Nigeria jails 13 for 'indecency'
2008-03-27 12:14
Kano - A court in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north, where the Islamic Sharia law is in force, has slapped jail terms or fines on 13 people for staging "indecent" shows, according to court documents.
The performers, aged between 14 and 25 and including six girls, were arrested on Monday by officials of the censorship board of the northern Kano State while performing a dance and drama show.
The Kano court ruled on Wednesday that they should either serve prison terms of four months or pay fines of $333 each for "publicly engaging in an indecent stage show with intent to corrupt".
The arrests were made under the state's 2001 cinematography law, which was interpreted to also cover the performing arts and even the use of theatre premises for private events deemed to be immoral.
Kano, one of the most conservative of the northern states, had also staged a crackdown on the local film industry Kannywood.
Conservative Muslim clerics seized a pornographic video clip of a Kannywood actress that was never intended for public distribution as an excuse to demand a clamp down on an industry they accused of promoting indecency.
The state government first banned all film-making in the state for six months and then, at the expiry of the ban, imposed a series of 32 restrictions on the industry.
Filmmakers said the restrictions were so crippling that they amounted to a continuation of the six-month ban.