The Bauchi state Sharia Commission arrested seven suspected homosexuals and were tried before an Upper Sharia Court Judge who sentenced four of the suspects to 15 strokes of the cane and ordered them to pay a fine of N20, 000 each.
The judge said the remaining three will show up for further hearing before their case is decided.
Nigerian Eye reports:
Shehu Adamu, Yusuf A Adsamu, Aliyu Dalhatu and Abdulamalik Tanko were arrested by the state Sharia Commission and were charged with the alleged offence of same-sex.
The four convicts were among the seven arraigned before the Upper Sharia Court in Anguwan Jaki area of Bauchi Metropolis for the same offence.
The presiding Judge El-Yakub Aliyu said after the sentence on the four, there will be a further hearing on the matter of the three other suspects namely Ibrahim Marafa, Aminu Ibrahim Sadik Usman Sabo and Hazif Abubakar.
The presiding judge explained that the trial was being done from public glare because of security reasons.
Explaining the reason behind the sentences meted to the four, Aliyu explained that the judgement was given on the basis that the suspects were not caught in the actual commission of the offence.
He said that although Aliyu Dalhatu and Abdullahi Tanko for instance admitted that they engaged in the act four years ago, they have repented and had not engaged in it before their arrest by the Hisbah Commission based on the rumour that they had done it.
