There has a been a wave of arrests since then. One youth was flogged with 20 lashes days after the law passed. The alleged act occurred 7 years ago.

Judge Nuhu Mohammed said he would spare Ibrahim the sentence of death by stoning because the crime occurred so many years ago and because the young man had shown “great remorse.”

The hearing for those flogged yesterday was initially set for January but postponed when thousands of Nigerians descended on the court urging the defendants be executed. Judges in Sharia courts have the discretion to order death by stoning for sodomy.

The Islamic justice system, which runs parallel to state and federal courts in northern states, provides for death by stoning for sodomy once it is established by four witnesses to the act or by voluntary confession.

Hearings for four more men are pending. One Christian who was arrested had his case sent to the secular court. As to those punished yesterday:

Judge El-Yakub Aliyu ruled that because the men were not caught in the act, there was no legal basis for passing the death sentence, despite confessions by two of the defendants.

"The judge said although two of the men admitted to having engaged in sodomy four years ago, there was no basis to give them the death sentence since they told the court they have repented and it would be unjustifiable to sentence them in retrospect," said Mr Mohammed.