Posted by AFP on
A Nigerian Islamic court has adjourned the trial of two alleged homosexuals who face the death penalty after prosecutors failed for a second time to present their witnesses.
KATSINA - A Nigerian Islamic court has adjourned the trial of two alleged homosexuals who face the death penalty after prosecutors failed for a second time to present their witnesses.
The defendants, 40-year-old Yusuf Kabir and 18-year-old Usman Sani, will remain in custody after failing to meet a bail condition imposed at their last hearing that they find two citizens to act as their guarantors.
Judge Mustapha Sani Saulawa of the Upper Sharia Court in the northern city of Katsina set the next trial date for September 8. Prosecutors explained that three police witnesses were away on a training course.
The pair were arrested by police in June after witnesses alleged that they had been having sex in a public toilet. Sodomy is punishable by stoning to death under northern Nigeria's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The case has attracted the attention of gay rights lobbyists in France, Democratic lawmakers in the United States and a senior United Nations envoy, who have all called for Nigeria to show tolerance towards homosexuals.