In the conservative northern Nigerian city of Kano, the Islamic police allegedly detained 19 persons for planning a gay wedding, according to a spokesperson on Tuesday (December 20).
One of the 12 states in northern Nigeria that adopted sharia law in 2000 is Kano, where Islamic courts coexist with the local judicial system.
The Islamic police have previously detained youths on suspicion of planning a gay wedding. And each time, the suspects have consistently denied it, claiming that they had only convened to celebrate.
Homosexuality is punishable by death under Islamic law, but no execution has ever been carried out.
The 19 people, 15 women and four men in their 20s were arrested Sunday in a multipurpose hall, Lawan Ibrahim Fagge, a spokesman for the Islamic police, told AFP.
“Our men broke into the venue where a gay couple was holding a wedding and arrested 19 men and women, including an alleged gay wedding planner,” he said.
However, Fagge said the alleged couple managed to escape and police are looking for them.
The suspects, meanwhile, have been taken into custody pending further investigation, the spokesman said.
In 2014, Nigeria, passed a law against same-sex marriage. Since then, homosexuality has been punishable by 10 to 14 years in prison.
The Islamic police, the “Hisbah” in Kano, have in the past arrested several people accused of planning gay and lesbian marriages, without any convictions.
In 2018, the Hisbah arrested 11 young women on charges of planning a lesbian wedding.
They had refuted the charge, stating that they belonged to a dance club and wanted to celebrate the appointment of their club’s president.
Also, the Hisbah in January 2015, arrested 12 young men at a hotel in the suburbs of Kano on suspicion of planning a gay wedding. The youth had also denied it, saying they were planning a friend’s birthday party.
