XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: gay.paedophiles@splc.org   
      
   LAGOS, Nigeria -- First the police targeted the gay men, then   
   tortured them into naming dozens of others who now are being   
   hunted down, human rights activists said Tuesday, warning that   
   such persecution will rise under a new Nigerian law.   
      
   The men's alleged crime? Belonging to a gay organization. The   
   punishment? Up to 10 years in jail under the Same Sex Marriage   
   Prohibition Act that is getting international condemnation.   
      
   Dubbed the "Jail the Gays" bill, it further criminalizes   
   homosexuality and will endanger programs fighting HIV-AIDS in   
   the gay community, Dorothy Aken'Ova, executive director of   
   Nigeria's International Center for Reproductive Health and   
   Sexual Rights, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.   
      
   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday condemned the law.   
      
   “Beyond even prohibiting same sex marriage, this law dangerously   
   restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for   
   all Nigerians,” Kerry said in a statement.   
      
   On Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan's office confirmed that   
   the Nigerian leader signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act   
   that criminalizes gay marriage, gay organizations and anyone   
   working with or promoting them.   
      
   The witch hunt in Bauchi state all began with a wild rumor that   
   the United States had paid gay activists $20 million to promote   
   same-sex marriage in this highly religious and conservative   
   nation, according to an AIDS counselor.   
      
   He said he helped get bail for some 38 men arrested since   
   Christmas. The man spoke on condition of anonymity for fear he   
   too would be arrested.   
      
   He and Aken'Ova said dozens of homosexuals have fled Bauchi in   
   recent days.   
      
   Aken'Ova, whose organization is helping with legal services for   
   the arrested men, said a law enforcement officer pretending to   
   be a gay man joined a group being counseled on AIDS. Police   
   detained four gay men and then tortured them until they named   
   others allegedly belonging to a gay organization, she said,   
   adding that police now have a list of 168 wanted gay men.   
      
   She said the arrests began during the Christmas holidays and   
   blamed "all the noise that was going on surrounding the (same   
   sex marriage prohibition) bill."   
      
   Chairman Mustapha Baba Ilela of Bauchi state Shariah Commission,   
   which oversees regulation of Islamic law, told the AP that 11   
   gay men have been arrested in the past two weeks. He said   
   community members helped "fish out" the suspects.   
      
   "We are on the hunt for others," he said, refusing to specify   
   how many.   
      
   Bauchi state has both Shariah law and a Western-style penal   
   code. Shariah is Islamic law, which is implemented to different   
   degrees in nine of Nigeria's 36 states.   
      
   Ilela said all 11 arrested - 10 Muslims and a non-Muslim -   
   signed confessions that they belonged to a gay organization, but   
   that some of them retracted the statements in court.   
      
   He denied there was any force involved:  "They have never been   
   tortured, they have never been beaten, they have never been   
   intimidated."   
      
   Nigerian law enforcers are notorious for torturing suspects to   
   extract confessions. They also are known for extorting money   
   from victims to allow them to get out of jail cells.   
      
   Olumide Makanjuola said lawyers for his Initiative For Equality   
   in Nigeria are backing lawsuits of several homosexuals arrested   
   by police without cause. He said police regularly and illegally   
   go through the cell phone of a gay suspect, then send text   
   messages to lure in others.   
      
   Then the men or women are told they will be charged and their   
   sexuality exposed unless they pay bribes. "Some pay 5,000, some   
   10,000 naira ($30 to $60). Even though they have done nothing   
   wrong, people are scared, people are afraid that even worse   
   things will happen," Makanjuola said in a recent AP interview.   
      
   The United States, Britain and Canada condemned the new law in   
   Africa's most populous nation, with Secretary of State John   
   Kerry saying Monday that it "dangerously restricts freedom" of   
   expression and association of all Nigerians.   
      
   While harsh, Nigeria's law is not as draconian as a bill passed   
   last month by legislators in Uganda that is awaiting President   
   Yoweri Museveni's signature. It provides penalties including   
   life imprisonment for "aggravated" homosexual sex. Initially,   
   legislators had been demanding the death sentence for gays.   
      
   The Nigeria law provides penalties of up to 14 years in jail for   
   a gay marriage and up to 10 years' imprisonment for membership   
   or encouragement of gay clubs, societies and organizations. That   
   could include even groups formed to combat AIDS among gays,   
   activists said.   
      
   The U.N. agency fighting AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,   
   Tuberculosis and Malaria expressed "deep concern that access to   
   HIV services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people   
   will be severely affected by a new law in Nigeria - further   
   criminalizing LGBT people, organizations and activities, as well   
   as people who support them."   
      
   UNAIDS said the law could harm Jonathan's own presidential   
   initiative to fight AIDS, started a year ago.   
      
   It said Nigeria has the second-largest HIV epidemic globally   
   with an estimated 3.4 million people living with the virus. The   
   disease affects many more gay men per capita than heterosexuals.   
      
   Jonathan has not publicly expressed his views on homosexuality.   
      
   But his spokesman, Reuben Abati, told The Associated Press on   
   Monday night, "This is a law that is in line with the people's   
   cultural and religious inclination. So it is a law that is a   
   reflection of the beliefs and orientation of Nigerian people.   
   ... Nigerians are pleased with it."   
      
   Many have asked why such a law is needed in a country where   
   sodomy already was outlawed, and could get you killed under   
   Shariah. Ilela said sodomy carries the death sentence in Bauchi   
   state, with a judge deciding whether it should be done by a   
   public stoning or by lethal injection. No gay person has been   
   subjected to such punishment.   
      
   That's okay.  It gets easier after you stone the first one to   
   death.   
      
   http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dozens-arrested-for-being-gay-in-   
   north-nigeria/   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)