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nairaland.net • View topic - 'Cross-dressers' in Nigerian court

'Cross-dressers' in Nigerian court

'Cross-dressers' in Nigerian court

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:29 pm

The trial of 18 men accused of dressing up as women has started in a Sharia court in northern Nigeria.

The men were arrested last year in a hotel room in the city of Bauchi.

Prosecutors read out a letter from New York based Human Rights Watch calling for the court to respect the men's right to "free association".

The men were originally accused of sodomy, which could lead to the death penalty under Sharia, but the charges were reduced.

Prosecutor Yusuf Adamu said HRW was "grossly misinformed" about the case and invited a representative of the organisation to attend the trial.

The case was adjourned until further notice by the judge.

The HRW letter was sent to the Federal Ministry of Justice in the capital, Abuja, who forwarded it on to the Bauchi state governor.

The letter said the Nigerian government had signed up to two conventions that enshrined the right to free association and freedom from harassment.

"Human Rights Watch is grossly misinformed. This case is not about the right to free association," Mr Yusuf said.

"Under Sharia law a man must dress like a man and woman must dress like a woman."

The 18 are charged with indecent dressing and vagrancy.

When the letter was read out the defendants looked relieved and happy, the BBC's Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi says.

But prosecutors have asked the court to write a response to HRW which could now delay the case.

Ancient customs

In the west, this case has focused attention on Nigerian attitudes to homosexuality, which is illegal in the country.

But the BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says perhaps it is more a reflection of current attitudes within northern Nigeria to old local customs.

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For centuries in Nigeria's Islamic north - where ethnic Hausa culture dominates - there have been men called Dan Daudu - known for dressing as women and speaking in high pitched voices.

They are largely engaged in doing what was considered to be women's' work and could sometimes be hired as entertainers for parties.

Being a Dan Daudu, however, did not necessarily say much about a person's sexual preferences, our correspondent says.

But eight years ago Nigeria's northern states reintroduced some of the harsher penalties of Islamic law which had been removed under colonialism.

It was a response by politicians to a wave of popular discontent in the Islamic north against political corruption and social injustice.

This new tougher Sharia has largely failed to end such problems but there is now, perhaps, more of a willingness to target groups who appear to behave in ways that run counter to today's more puritan practice of Islam, our correspondent says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7246935.stm
Last edited by Richard Akindele on Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Six sharia convicts await stoning death in Nigeria

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:33 pm

LAGOS (Reuters) - Six people convicted by Islamic sharia courts in a northern Nigerian state are awaiting death by stoning, while 46 others are waiting for amputation, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported on Friday.

The men on death row in Bauchi state include a 52-year-old sentenced in 2004 for getting his teenage step-daughter pregnant and another who was sentenced in 2002 for having sex 13 times with his friend's wife, the agency said.

The report did not say how many people were facing such penalties in 11 other northern Nigerian states that have criminal courts using sharia law. Such data is not collated centrally.

The Bauchi convicts awaiting the amputation of their hands include a 46-year-old trader, Husseini Maidoya, who was convicted in 2002 for hacking off the leg of his wife after accusing her of unfaithfulness.

A sharia court had then ruled that Maidoya be amputated without the application of anaesthesia.

The sentences have not been executed because the state government is yet to ratify them, the news agency said, quoting the acting secretary of the Bauchi state Sharia Consultative Council, Ishiaku Tijjani.

Bauchi is one of 12 states in Nigeria's mainly Islamic north that adopted a harsh sharia-based criminal code eight years ago. The move alienated large Christian minorities and sparked bouts of sectarian violence that killed thousands.

Punishments have been rare since 2000 as several of the sentences, including those of six women condemned to death by stoning for adultery, were overturned on appeal.

But one man who was convicted of multiple-murder in Katsina state was executed in 2003. Another convicted of theft in Zamfara state had his left hand amputated in 2001.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN554443.html
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Movie-Making banned in Kano - Sharia Law

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:35 pm

Six months ago the Kano State Censorship Board, which essentially monitors the Hausa movie business, banned film making in the state following the appearance of a sex clip made with cellphone camera. The ban was lifted last Monday by the director-general of the board, Malam Abubakar Rabo Abdulkareem, who urged stakeholders to return to work immediately. He restated the draconian measures he announced at the start of the controversial ban. But the measures, which include his vetting of movie scripts and locations, as well as minimum capital base of N2.5 million, make it impossible for the film industry to regain life.

We support the state government's vision of sanitising the hugely popular industry, which employs thousands. The craft that has the potential of imparting moral lessons or corrupting society if left unattended to must be monitored. But the censors board appears in a hurry to assuage public sentiments using its 2001 law, eliciting fears that it really wants to kill the industry using religious precepts.

The measures can be relaxed. For instance, reduce the minimum capital base and leave out script vetting. Emphasize the moral ethos of a movie's content. Small-budget movies can be culture-compliant and Shariah-friendly.
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Churches Destroyed, One Killed, After Muslim Marriage Row

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:39 pm

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