Kano Hizbah yesterday publicly paraded scores of people arrested for flouting Islamic law, including transvestites and people wearing clothing deemed too tight or revealing. They also publicly shaved off the supposedly overly long hair of several men. The Hizbah spokesman, Mohammad Yousuf Yola who said the board will ensure the implementation of the Sharia law, said 45 men and women were detained at a birthday party in a hotel Sunday because of “indecent dress that is against the practice of Islam.”
He said the recent arrests of 150 people, including 55 alleged prostitutes, is part of a new campaign to enforce Islamic law, which officially governs nine of Nigeria’s 37 states, adding that all those arrested were Muslims. “Our agency will not relent in its efforts to ensure compliance of Sharia legal system. The agency will do its best to make sure that society is free from all social vices,” he said.
The Islamic police in Kano previously had targeted alleged prostitutes and those who do not cover their heads or who show their limbs. Yola said the arrests made over the past week were the first to include men.
He said they had arrested about 500 women accused of prostitution this year, though it was not clear how many have been prosecuted.
Source: Peoples’Daily
