Selya Yarnap
23 August 2007
Bauchi — The 18 accused persons standing trial for homosexual practices at a Bauchi State Sharia court narrowly escaped death yesterday from an angry mob when their matter came up for hearing.
Indications that the accused might be attacked had emerged earlier in the day (yesterday) when the crowed which besieged the court to catch a glimpse surged forward immediately they arrived the courts premises but were dispersed by a team of armed policemen and prison officials.
But immediately the court rose, the crowd surged forward, throwing stones at the policemen and demanding the release of the accused for what some of them called "instant justice" as they have desecrated the Islamic religion since all of them are Moslems.
This forced the security operatives to teargas the crowd which in turn smashed several cars within the court's premises.
Meanwhile, the accused persons, contrary to earlier reports may not face the hang man if convicted as the charges against them have been amended to idleness and possession of female dressings, which carry a year jail term and 20 strokes of the cane each.
This is as the accused were granted bail as the offences committed according to the trial judge are bailable ones.
The trial Sharia Judge, Tanimu Abubakar said that the charge of sodomy against the accused person as contained in the FIR when they were initially brought before the court by the prosecuting police was wrongfully done.
He said that the accused persons are to be charged under section 372 of the Bauchi State Sharia Penal Code for possession of female dressings and idleness warning that the court will no longer tolerate the misinterpretation of the charges against the accused persons calling on journalists to always seek clarifications before rushing to press in celebrated cases like this.
Abubakar said, "I have read in the media that the accused persons are facing death sentences, it is wrong, the offence they are being charged with is idleness, possession of female dressings and vagabonds, if found guilty they are going to jail for one year and twenty strokes of the cane as provided for in the Bauchi State Sharia laws."
The case, which was earlier slated for further mention by the prosecutor, could not go on as the State Ministry of Justice has indicated its preparedness to take over the prosecution in order to avoid error in the process as explained by Aliyu ibn Idris a State Counsel who appeared for the prosecution.
He however asked the court to fix another date to enable him study the case file that is presently with the police, saying that he could not go on with the case because he just received briefings from the office few minutes before coming to the, court even as the added that the case has assumed a celebrated status and so must be properly and carefully handled to avoid any error at the end of it all.
The defence counsel, Ralph Monye had earlier argued that the court should ensure that all the proceedings were interpreted from English to Hausa and vice versa to enable him follow the case and prepare his defence, commending the judge for taking the bold step to explain the charges against the accused persons.
Monye also applied for bail for all the accused persons to explain noting that the provisions of the sharia criminal procedure code as well as other relevant laws of the country, offence of vagabond and idleness is a bail able one, adding that failure to grant them bail will amount to denying them of their fundamental rights.
Prosecuting counsel, Aliyu ibn Idris though did not object to the bail application as moved by the defense counsel, but urged the court to give conditions that will ensure that the accused persons did not jump bail as according to him if such happens the case will drag on for a long time while the search for whoever jumps bail will be organized.
Ruling on the application, the trial Judge agreed with the defense that the offence is a bailable one and thereby admitted them on bail with one surety each who must a responsible citizen resident in Bauchi metropolis with a personal house and a deposit of the sum of N20, 000 which will be forfeited in case the bailed person jumps bail.
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