Nigeria: Court sentences three men to death by stoning for homosexuality

Three men have been sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria for having homosexual relations.

The ruling was made by an Islamic Sharia court, the head of the religious police told the regional administration in the state of Bauchi.

The three arrested on June 14, including a 70-year-old, confessed.

Objections to the judgment can be lodged within a 30-day period.

Any death sentence passed by a Sharia court must be approved by the state governor.

In Nigeria, as in most parts of Africa, homosexuality is considered unacceptable.

In Nigeria, one of the most populous countries on the continent, laws provide for long prison sentences for open homosexuality.

In the north of the country there are also increasing numbers of brutal clashes, which are often sparked off by religious issues.

Last May, a lynch mob in Sokoto state brutally killed a Christian student and burned her body.

Dozens of Muslim students stoned her out of anger at an alleged insult to the Prophet Mohammed, police said.

svs/Reuters