There are reports that dozens of gay men have fled while some have been arrested in northern Nigeria because of the anti-gay law that makes same-sex marriage/relationship a crime. According to Human Rights activists, the hunt in Bauchi State, one of the Northern Nigerian states began after a rumor went around that the United States paid gay activists $20 million to promote same-sex marriage in Nigeria. Continue story after cut..............
The police arrested the first set of gay men, tortured them to name dozens of others who now are being hunted down. Dorothy Aken’Ova, whose organization is helping with legal services for the arrested men, also said a law enforcement officer pretending to be a gay man joined a group being counseled on AIDS. Police ended up detaining four gay men and then tortured them until they named others allegedly belonging to a gay organization, adding that police now have a list of 168 wanted gay men. But Chairman Mustapha Baba Ilela of Bauchi state Shariah Commission, however denied there was any force involved. He said ‘‘They have never been tortured, they have never been beaten, they have never been intimidated.’’ He said community members helped ‘‘fish out’’ the suspects. Adding that all 11 arrested signed confessions that they belonged to a gay organization, but that some of them retracted the statements in court.
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