Nigeria urged to repeal its anti-gay law by rights group

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – A new report says Nigeria’s draconian law against gays has led to mob attacks, police torture, evictions, public whippings and health risks, and asks the country’s new president to repeal the legislation.

The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act became law 18 months ago prescribing up to 14 years’ jail and also making it a crime to not report a known homosexual.

The law is “the constitutionalization of hate and hate crimes against LGBTI individuals,” author Bisi Alimi writes in the report published June 29 by the PEN American Center and the New York-based Leitner Center for International Law and Justice.

It calls for President Muhammadu Buhari to end the legalized discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender and intersex minorities, charging it denies freedom of expression and other constitutional rights.

 

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