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A Nigerian
man has received 20 lashes after an Islamic court in the northern city of
Bauchi convicted him of homosexual offences.
Under
Islamic law, courts can punish homosexual acts by stoning to death.
But the
judge said he took into account that the Muslim man, Mubarak Ibrahim, 20,
carried out the acts seven years ago, and had stopped the practice.
In Nigeria,
homosexual acts are illegal under both Islamic and secular law and restrictions
have been tightened.
Earlier
this month, President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill which bans
same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection.
Screamed in
pain
The new
legislation applies throughout Nigeria.
Most states
in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria have adopted Islamic law, known as
Sharia, since the end of military rule in 1999.
Along with
Mr Ibrahim, 11 other Muslims and a Christian man were arrested last month
accused by the authorities of being homosexuals.
He was also
ordered to pay a fine of about $30 (£18).
Mr Ibrahim
told the BBC he was relieved that Judge Nuhu Muhammad had been lenient on him
and had not sentenced him to death.
The BBC's
Ishaq Khalid was in court when Mr Ibrahim was lashed with a whip, made of
animal skin smeared with oil.
Mr Ibrahim,
who had pleaded guilty to the charge, was ordered to lie on a bench, and an
official whipped his back in front of a packed courtroom, our correspondent
says.
Mr Ibrahim
screamed in pain while being lashed, but was able to walk afterwards, he adds.
The trial
of two other men was adjourned to 23 January.
The fate of
the nine other men arrested on the same charge is unclear but on Wednesday the
Sharia Commission in Bauchi said the Christian would be tried by a
"conventional court", not an Islamic court.
Nigeria is
a deeply conservative country, with an influential Christian evangelical
movement in the south and strong support for Islamic law among many Muslims in
the north.
Hostility
towards gay people has escalated since parliament debated the Same-Sex Marriage
Prohibition Act last year, Dorothy Aken'Ova, a rights activist with the
Nigeria-based International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights,
told the BBC.
She said
that she was aware of 38 people being arrested in Bauchi state last month, and
was trying to confirm reports of more arrests in both the north and south of
Nigeria since the new law was approved.
"What
this act is saying is that they [gay people] do not deserve to exist," she
told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Wednesday.
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