An Islamic sharia court in Bauchi, Nigeria sentenced three men to death by stoning after they were convicted of engaging in homosexuality, Adam Dan Kafi, the leader of the Hisbah religious police force, announced on 1 July.
He stated that the men, one of which is a 70-year-old, were arrested on 14 June before being charged in a sharia court, Reuters reported.
None of them had legal representation and all ‘confessed’ to their apparent crimes, Kafi added. Bauchi is one of 12 Nigerian states which subscribes to the Islamic legal system and adopts death by stoning as the maximum punishment for same-sex sexual actibity.
The state governor must approve any death penalty passed in the country’s sharia courts and the three men have 30 days to appeal the sentence, which was given on 30 June.