As It Happens6:3076 arrested at party in Nigeria in what rights groups call an LGBTQ ‘witch hunt’
Dozens of young people in Nigeria were paraded in front of news cameras and accused of “holding homosexual birthdays” after they were arrested at a party on Saturday night.
Those arrested are out on bail, and it’s not yet clear whether charges have been laid. But Nigerian human rights lawyer Chizelu Emejulu says the allegations alone are enough to upend their lives, cost them their families and jobs, and put them at risk of violence.
“These arrests are always, always devastating to the victims, for the people involved,” Emejulu, founder of the Nigerian LGBTQ rights group Minority Watch, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
It’s the second raid targeting an LGBTQ event in the last three months, and rights groups say it’s part of an escalating police crackdown since the country passed a…
