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NIGERIAN authorities have meted out the first punishment to a gay man under new anti-homosexual regulations that came into effect earlier this month after President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill into law. Â Defying global pressure, President Jonathan signed the Draconian bill into law earlier this month despite human rights bodies warning that it constitutes a breach of Nigeria’s international obligations. Under the harsh new regime, anyone convicted of engaging in a same sex marriage is liable to serve 14 years in prison, while anyone aiding or abetting such relationships faces a 10 year jail term. Â Hardline clerics have welcomed the new laws and proponents of the strict Islamic sharia code, which is operational in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states have been quick to swing into action. Last week, about 38 gay men were arrested in Bauchi State and yesterday, the first of these to be convicted was sentenced to 20 lashes of the cane.
Yesterday, Mubarak Ibrahim, 20, was given 20 strokes of the can in Bauchi after being convicted of homosexuality by an Islamic court. He was found guilty of carried out gay acts seven years ago and has since stopped the practice, hence the leniency of his sentence, which could have been 14 years in jail.  Under Islamic law, courts can even punish homosexual acts by stoning to death but the judge said he took into account the fact that Mr Ibrahim had stopped being gay. More sentences are expected over the coming weeks in Bauchi following the recent clampdown.  Mr Ibrahim who was also ordered to pay a fine of about £18, said that was relieved that Judge Nuhu Muhammad had been lenient on him and had not sentenced him to death. His punishment, which was meted out in court, involved him lying on a bench and an official whipping his back in front of a packed courtroom.  Screaming out in pain while being whipped, Mr Ibrahim, who had pleaded guilty to the offence, was not severely harmed after his punishment and was able to walk away afterwards. A similar fate awaits two other men who appeared before the court but their case was adjourned until January 23.  Human rights activist Dorothy Aken’Ova, of the International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, said: “What this act is saying is that gay people do not deserve to exist. We are aware of 38 people being arrested in Bauchi State last month and are trying to confirm reports of more arrests in both the north and south of Nigeria since the new law was approved.”  At least one of the other men arrested is a Christian and the Sharia Commission in Bauchi has said that he would be tried by a conventional court not an Islamic one. Nigeria remains a deeply conservative country, with an influential Christian evangelical movement in the south and strong support for Islamic law among many Muslims in the north, all bitterly anti-gay.  Nigeria and several African countries have recently introduced very harsh anti-gay measures, with Uganda having the most draconian penalty of all, which sentences homosexuals to death. However 15 African countries have laws which recognise consensual same sex relationships as legal including South Africa, Lesotho, DR Congo, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin Republic and Guinea Bissau.
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