Nigerian woman jailed for ‘blasphemy’ for 18 months over WhatsApp message - Minority Africa
Toluwani Omotesho
March 12, 2024
But first, we stop in Kenya, where the stigma and legal ambiguity over abortions is driving many women to underground clinics. Kenya’s abortion law is a complicated one as its penal code prohibits the procedure and criminalizes not only the women seeking abortion but also the person performing it and those who supply the materials required.
In 2004, Dr. John Nyamu, along with two nurses, were arrested and charged with the murder of two fetuses – a crime that carries the death penalty. But after being held for 12 months at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi, they were acquitted and released. Although this case paved a legal avenue for abortions in certain situations, such as life-threatening pregnancies or those from rape or incest, it hasn’t particularly encouraged women to seek safe terminations, especially in public health facilities. There is also a culture of silence amongst doctors on the issue of legal abortions.
The complexities around abortions in Kenya continue to push thousands of young women to get care from backstreet clinics, where they usually suffer from post-abortion complications. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, around seven girls die daily from unsafe abortions. In 2012, the government published guidelines and training initiatives for health workers on safe abortions, however this was suspended after a year with support from anti-abortion campaigners and religious bodies.
Despite this, there’s growing support for abortion rights in Kenya. In March 2022, the High Court recognized abortion as a fundamental human right. It also declared the arrests of healthcare providers illegal, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to address the concerns of women in need of this care.
Kenya abortion: Women go to backstreet clinics amid legal ambiguity
Away from threat of Islamist violence or floods, health risks for pregnant women in Nigeria’s refugee camps remain high
Uganda is nicknamed the “Pearl of Africa” due to its rich landscapes, natural beauty, and lush vegetation.
“It is like slavery”: Tanzanian bar waitresses speak up on sexual abuse in the industry.
Despite being a major problem in the sector, sexual abuse is not considered a safety issue by regulators in Tanzania when opening a new club or bar. For this, alongside other reasons, many women working in bars and clubs are vulnerable to violence from both their employers and customers. Now, they are speaking out.
While working as a bar waitress in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 25-year-old Ester Steven Mashaka was often touched inappropriately by customers. Then, it was understood that accepting gifts was a sign of willingness to have sex with customers. Talking to Minority Africa, Mashaka recalls a specific incident where a customer offered her beer and later wanted to take her home. She refused. Her manager, however, insisted that she went with the customer to secure her job.
This was not the first time Mashaka was offered this kind of proposition. Often, she obeyed and did what the customer wanted, going where he wanted and having sex with him.
“Doing things out of one’s wish is painful, you know, it is more like slavery,” Mashaka says. “It depends on the understanding of the customer; sometimes you may be forced to go, and the customer understands that you do not want to, and he leaves you.”
The pressure to conform: How queer Nigerians navigate marriage expectations during the holidays
Questions and remarks about marriage are uncomfortable for queer Nigerians like me, who already find it difficult to find love and constantly face homophobia.
At twenty-six, my hometown and family gatherings have become places where I have been subjected to gossip and suspected of being a ritualist. A far cry from what it was for me growing up: a place to meet all my extended family members, smile at my grandmother, and see people who are one. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria, raised by relatives, and attended a missionary secondary school. I have had to battle the internalized homophobia I learned from religion and school. But growing up loving Igbo traditions and learning that, unlike culture, religion is unchanging, I became more drawn to my culture as I came to accept my sexuality.
But once you reach a certain age in Nigeria, marriage conversations become recurrent. Since I refused to get married, I have had to avoid my relatives and family gatherings, trying to evade conversations about marriage. These conversations start with relatives giving subtle remarks or asking, “What are you still waiting for?” “Hopefully, you’ll be inviting us for a naming ceremony soon,” or, “I think I have found a perfect girl for you. I know how you like them.”
‘As a gay man who fled Rwanda, I’m horrified by the UK government’s asylum plan.’
Innocent Uwimana, a gay man from Rwanda who came to the UK 20 years ago, reacts to the UK government vowing to move forward with its plan to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda – even after the Supreme Court deemed it unlawful.
“I was deeply shocked when I learned that the UK government was planning to deport LGBTQIA+ people seeking asylum to Rwanda, knowing that they would be persecuted based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
I have faced discrimination in Rwanda; I know how it destroys the lives of thousands of people. Homosexuality is not explicitly criminalized, but there are no laws protecting LGBTQIA+ people. Every day, LGBTQAI+ people face discrimination and violence, such as arbitrary arrests, forced marriage, beatings, humiliation, and denied access to education and employment. Not only are LGBTQIA+ people rejected, tortured, and discriminated against by family and society, but the government doesn’t do anything to help them.”
Nepal registers first same-sex marriage hailed as a win for LGBT rights
Nepal has registered its first same-sex marriage, which activists hailed as a victory for LGBT rights.
Authorities in the western Lumjung district formally registered the union of Maya Gurung, 35, and Surendra Pandey, 27, on Wednesday. It came five months after the Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex couples to register their marriages. Taiwan is the only other place in Asia that has legalized same-sex marriage. Ms Gurung told the BBC that their registration was a “big day” not just for the couple but all sexual minorities. “The fight for rights is not easy. We have done it. And it will be easier for future generations,” she said. “The registration has opened doors to many things for us.” The couple said they wanted to open a joint bank account and share ownership of their bought land. But their biggest dream is to adopt a child once their finances are more stable. They have been together for almost a decade. The couple wed in a temple ceremony in 2017 and had sought legal recognition of their union this year.
Ms Gurung is a transgender woman who has not changed her gender on official documents. Mr Pandey was born and identifies as male.
Nigerian woman jailed for ‘blasphemy’ for 18 months over WhatsApp message
For sharing a message among her co-workers that criticized a mob action last May 2022, Rhoda Ya’u Jatau has spent the last year in police detention on charges of blasphemy towards Islam.
The healthcare administrator with the Warji local government in Bauchi, northeastern Nigeria, was arrested a few days after forwarding the video condemning the burning to death of Deborah Yakubu, a university student in Sokoto, another state, over alleged blasphemy. Prosecutors allege that by sharing the video, Jatau, then 45, committed multiple offenses of inciting disturbance, contempt for religious creed, and cyberstalking.
Last Monday, a Bauchi state high court rejected her “no-case submission.” Kola Alapinni, lead counsel at Abuja-based nonprofit Foundation for Religious Freedom, who is familiar with the case, told Al Jazeera that the defense team is expected to make a case when the court sits again in December.
If found guilty, Jatau, a mother of five and Christian, could be sentenced to a few years in prison, he said.
The queer artist whose controversial street performances are taking on the Russian government
With a painted white face and head, wearing an all-white ensemble save for long black gloves and gigantic black platform stiletto boots, Gena Marvin teeters as she balances on snow-covered rocks. She poses for a photograph, the sea rippling gently in the background behind her contorted figure, frozen still in the arctic chill.
It’s a striking scene that opens the new documentary “Queendom,” which follows the queer Russian performance artist as she creates artwork that challenges societal expectations and political situations — and the backlash she faces for it.
Wearing ethereal costumes made of found materials such as wire and tape and donning striking, alien-like make-up, Marvin pushes her body to extremes in her performances, often in public places on the streets of Moscow and in defiance of the Russian government. Yet the performances, and Marvin’s very existence as a queer person, are not without their risks, including physical violence, threats and homophobic abuse.
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