Over 70 young individuals were detained by security forces in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday, accused of arranging a same-sex wedding in a country where such unions are illegal, and violence against the LGBT+ community is pervasive.
Same-sex marriage is prohibited in Nigeria, subject to a 2014 law that imposes a 14-year prison sentence for violations.
Buhari Saad, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Gombe State, a government-affiliated paramilitary organization, stated, “We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals at a birthday party organized by one of them who was due to marry his fiancé at the event.”
The detained group includes 59 men and 17 women.
Legal representation for those arrested was not immediately available for comment or confirmation.
Intimidation of the LGBT+ community is widespread in Nigeria, and security forces have conducted numerous raids on gatherings they suspect involve same-sex weddings in recent years. However, none of those arrested have been convicted.
In August, police arrested over a hundred men in a similar situation in southeastern Nigeria.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization, has called for an end to what it terms a “witch-hunt.”
“In a society where corruption is endemic, the law prohibiting same-sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion and blackmail by law enforcement officials and other members of the public”, it also condemned.
In December, the Islamic police, known as Hisbah, arrested 19 men and women in their twenties in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, on allegations of arranging a same-sex wedding. The suspects were detained briefly and subsequently released without facing legal proceedings.
Gombe State, where the recent arrests occurred, is among the northern states with a Muslim-majority population where Islamic Sharia law is applied in conjunction with federal and state legal systems.
Under Sharia law, homosexual relationships are subject to the death penalty, although this punishment has never been implemented in northern Nigeria.
The NSCDC spokesperson did not clarify whether the individuals detained on Saturday would be prosecuted under Sharia law or the regular legal system.