Men in women’s clothing at party face jail

EIGHTEEN Nigerian men accused of dressing up as women during a party at a hotel went on trial yesterday before an Islamic Sharia court in the northern state of Bauchi.

Dozens of residents shouted abuse and hurled stones at the men as they were escorted into an armoured prison vehicle after the hearing, prompting police to fire tear gas at the crowd.

The men, mostly in their 20s, were arrested in a Bauchi hotel on August 4. Police say they were dressed as women, which is illegal under the state’s Sharia penal code. The offence is punishable by up to a year in prison and 20 lashes by cane.

The accused, who tried to hide their faces as they were jeered on their way in and out of court, deny the charge. One said they went to the hotel for a graduation party.

Muhammad Bununu of the Hisbah Commission, a body charged with enforcing Sharia law, told reporters the accused were “addressing each other as women and dressing themselves as women”.

“They said they went to the hotel to witness a wedding between a male and a male,” he said.

The police brought handbags and suitcases containing women’s high-heel shoes and clothing to the court as evidence. The 18 are not formally charged with homosexuality, which is illegal in Nigeria and seen as immoral by most people, both Muslims and Christians.