An Abuja mob, wielding wooden clubs and iron bars and screaming to
“cleanse” their neighbourhood of gay people, on Thursday dragged 14 young men
from their beds and assaulted them, human rights activists claimed yesterday.
Four of the victims were marched to a police station, where they
allegedly were kicked and punched by police officers who yelled pejoratives at
them, said Ifeanyi Orazulike of the International Centre on Advocacy for the
Right to Health.
The Police operatives threatened that the men would be incarcerated for
14 years, which he said, the maximum prison sentence under the new Same Sex
Marriage (Prohibition) Act, dubbed the “Jail the Gays” law.
“Since the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was signed, we have
expressed concern as a friend of Nigeria that it might be used by some to
justify violence against Nigerians based on their sexual orientation,” the U.S.
Embassy said in a statement at the weekend. “Recent attacks in Abuja deepen our
concern on this front.”
The police spokeswoman for the Federal Capital Territory, Deputy
Superintendent Altine Daniel, said she was unaware of the attack but would try
to get details.
Orazulike said he got a panicked email from a colleague who said he was
hiding from a mob of 40 people who struck around 1 a.m. Thursday, going from
house to house saying their mission was “to cleanse” the area of gays. He said
they used pieces of wood and iron to beat up 14 young men. Orazulike said he
drove from his home at 4 a.m. to save the man in Gishiri, a shantytown with mud
roads near central Abuja.
Those attacked are in hiding and too scared to speak to reporters, he
said, recounting their story.
“They were told ‘If you come back, we will kill you.’”
The walls of houses where the men lived have been painted with graffiti
declaring “Homosexuals, pack and leave,” he said.
Orazulike said he went to the police station later on Thursday and met
with a senior officer who ordered the four men released because there was no
evidence that they were gay and they had not been caught having sex.
Four of them were severely injured and others suffered bruises, he said.
They were treated at his organisation’s clinic because they were afraid to go
to the hospital.
“They said the police slapped and kicked them and swore at them,” he said.
Dorothy Aken’Ova, executive director of Nigeria’s International Centre
for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, said she stayed up all night
Wednesday trying to get police and Civil Defence to send officers to the scene
after she got a phone call from a man who was being attacked.
“Instead of helping them, apparently some of them were arrested,” she
told AP. “None of the (law enforcement) agents responded to our distress
calls.”
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