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Of: TT
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Photo: Ben Curtis / AP / TT
File photo of a court in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, another country with laws against homosexuality.
A controversial lawsuit against 47 men charged under Nigeria’s anti-homosexual law has come to an end.
This after the responsible judge decided to destroy the accusation since the prosecutors did not appear in court.
The 47 men were arrested during a police intervention in a hotel in 2018 and later suspected of having shown affection towards someone of the same sex.
It is an act that can be punishable by ten years in prison under the country’s strict anti-homosexuality law that came into force in 2014.
The law, which was introduced under former President Goodluck Jonathan, has faced strong criticism in the country since its introduction.
The trial against the 47 men would have been the first time the law has been tried in a court of law.
But the case is closed after prosecutors repeatedly failed to appear in court and did not persuade witnesses to appear.
The fact that the indictment is dropped is seen by some as proof that the law is difficult to enforce.
– You can’t even build an accusation based on that. I hope they (the government) realize how redundant it is and consider removing or repealing it, says Emmanuel Sadi of the Nigerian human rights organization Initiative for Equal Rights.
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