47 Men Accused of Being Gay, Face Trial in Nigeria

A five-year-old Nigerian law is being used to prosecute 47 men who were arrested and charged with "same-sex displays of affection." Authorities claim that the accused men were participating in some sort of "gay initiation party," but the accused men insist they were simply attending a birthday party, according to an AFP story.

The attorney for the accused, Chizelu Emejulu, told the press, "They were attending a birthday party. Some of them were at the club of the hotel, some others were relaxing in their rooms when the police came in and arrested them."

Added the attorney, "Our defense line is very simple - they were doing nothing illegal."

The party was attended by men and women alike, but police allowed the women to leave while they arrested the men, reports said.

The charges and upcoming trial represent the first time the 2014 law has been enforced in this way, reports UK newspaper The Guardian. That account referenced the head of the LGBTQ advocacy gore Initiative for Equal Rights, Xeenarh Mohammed, as alleging that police have used the law for years to "harass" and "blackmail" people accused of being non-heterosexual.

Said Mohammed:

"People have been detained, men and women, at different gatherings but no cases had ever gone before a judge. We have to establish that people have a right to meet that shouldn't be a crime under any law in any country."

One defendant echoed Mohammed's claims. Said 25-year-old Smart Joel, "Police officers will stop you and then get you arrested, extort money from you and begin to call you names."

Hysteria has surrounded the men accused of being gay, a CNN report indicated.

Mohammed told CNN that men who had nothing to do with the party were arrested, including a taxi driver who delivered a birthday cake and a man who was only at the hotel in search of accommodations.

The national media threw a spotlight on the men, who are still suffering from the fallout.

"Many of them were disowned by their families after they saw them on TV," Mohammed told CNN. "A dry cleaner among them lost clients that feared he could introduce their kids to homosexual acts."

If convicted, the accused men could face up to 14 years in prison, media accounts said.