NIGERIA (Bauchi) - A court session was nearly disrupted yesterday in Bauchi when thousands of protesters yesterday threw stones into a Shariah court, urging the speedy conviction of 11 men arrested for belonging to gay organisations.

The Judge El-Yakubu Aliyu, was forced to closed the court abruptly.

"No one can be sentenced to death until confirmed without a reasonable doubt," Aliyu said in response to calls for the men's execution.

Protesters did not allow the defence counsel to submit an application for bail some of the defendants were unable to give testimony. It was unclear when the arraignments would resume.

This follows President Jonathan’s approval of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act last week. The law bans all gay associations, with penalties up to 14 years' imprisonment for marriage.

Bauchi State has both a Western-style penal code and Shariah, or Islamic law, in which sodomy can carry the death sentence with a judge deciding whether it should be done by a public stoning or by lethal injection.

Shariah law is implemented to different degrees in nine of Nigeria's 36 states.