Scores Arrested As Nigerian Anti Gay Law Come To Force

According to reports, arrests of persons suspected to be gays in the to the northern part of the country has begun. According to UK Guardian.

Dozens of gay men are reported to have been arrested over northern Nigeria as policemanman start to enforce punitive new regulations that criminalize same-sex marriages and members of gay rights organizations.

Dorothy Aken'Ova, executive director of the country's International Centre for Reproductive Health and sexy Rights, said that the legislation, tagged "Jail the Gays" regulation, had led to mass arrests. policeman in Bauchi state, she claimed, had a list of
168 purportedly gay men, of who 38 had been arrested.

The regulations, she cautioned, will endanger medical programmes combating HIV-Aids in the gay community. Nigeria has the second-largest HIV epidemic globally with an estimated 3.4 million people living with HIV. answering to the disperse of anti-gay legislation,Kerry said:

"The United States is profoundly worried by Nigeria's enactment of the Same Sex marriage Prohibition Act. Beyond even prohibiting same-sex wedding ceremony, this regulation unsafely constrains freedom of assembly, association and sign for all Nigerians.

"[The regulation] is inconsistent with Nigeria's international lawful obligations and undermines the popular restructures and human rights protections enshrined in its 1999 constitution," he supplemented.

"People universal warrant to live in flexibility and equality. No one should face aggression or discrimination for who they are or who they love."

The London-based Human Dignity Trust, which carries lawful actions round the world directed at overturning anti-gay legislation, admonished both the Nigerian and Ugandan actions.

Jonathan Cooper, the trust's head executive, has recounted the Ugandan legislation as "a bleak day for human privileges. The bill undermines Uganda's human privileges defence, breaks its worldwide treaty obligations and violates Uganda's own constitution".

One of the men whose legal challenges the believe sustained, Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, 34, died this week after being removed from clinic by his family. He had been jailed in Cameroon for sending a text note to another man saying: "I'm very much in love with you".

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