29 Yr Old Gay Actor Sentenced to Jail Under a Sodomy Colonial Law
Nigeria's national assembly building in Abuja. Last November lawmakers welcomed a bill making same-sex displays of affection a criminal offence. Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP
Just to think that we had the same laws in this country and it wasn’t too long that gays were arrested for the same offense.
A Nigerian court has sentenced a 29-year-old actor to three months imprisonment under an archaic colonial law that deems sodomy an "against the order of nature", as the government seeks to tighten the existing legislation by introducing an anti-gay bill.
Bestwood Chukwuemeka, a minor star in the local Nollywood film industry, pleaded guilty after a male friend he had sex with in his private home later reported him to the police.
"I was under the influence of alcohol and I want the court to temper justice with mercy,'' local media reported him saying.
Nafisatu Buba, the sentencing magistrate at a court in the capital, Abuja, said the sentence would send a message to others. "This would serve as warning to other youths who hide under the influence of alcohol to commit crimes,'' she said.
Anal sex is illegal in Nigeria, and punishable by whipping or stoning in some states in the predominantly Muslim north which are also governed by sharia laws, although no stonings have been carried out to date. Prosecutions are rare, but the Nigeria society is generally unanimous in its anti-gay views.
Earlier this month the popular comedian John Okafor, nicknamed "Nigeria's Borat", said gay actors were a "virus" in the homegrown industry. "If there is any way in this world that people can make them stop it or kill it, please do it," he said.
"It can be tough. Sometimes somebody will say something against you just because they want to tarnish your reputation," said a Nollywood actor who did not want to be named.
Last November, Nigerian lawmakers welcomed a bill making same-sex displays of affection a criminal offence, and same-sex marriages punishable by up to 14 years in prison. But the bill later stalled amid an outcry from local activists.
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