Judge Dismisses Case Against 47 Men Charged Under Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Law
November 2, 2020A Nigerian court threw out a case against 47 men who were charged with public displays of affection with members of the same sex, because of what the judge called the failure of prosecutors to appear in court and call witnesses.
The trial was widely seen as a test case for a law introduced in 2014 that bans same-sex “amorous relationships.” The law carries a jail term of up to 10 years.
The 47 men were arrested in a police raid in a Lagos hotel in the city’s Egbeda district in 2018. Police officers said the men were being initiated into a gay club, but the defendants said they were attending a birthday party, as ‘The New York Times’ report.
Prosecutors failed to attend a hearing at the Federal High Court in Lagos, having previously failed to present witnesses in a case that had been adjourned on several occasions.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa said he was dismissing the case because of the “lack of diligent prosecution.”
The Nigerian law banning gay marriage, punishable by a 14-year prison term, and same-sex “amorous relationships,” stoked an international outcry when it came into force under Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former president, in 2014.
Before the court’s judgment, prosecution and defence lawyers in the case said that nobody had yet been convicted under the law. Some of the men previously said they had been stigmatised because of the hotel raid and a televised news conference held by the police in which they were identified the day after their arrest.
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