(NY POST) – Men convicted of rape in one Nigerian state will now face castration — while child rapists can be executed, under a strict new law that passed this week.
Male rapists in Kaduna state can be subject to surgical castration, while a woman convicted raping a child faces the removal of her fallopian tubes.
Men can also now be handed the death penalty for raping a person under age 14 — and a life sentence for the rape of an adult.
“[These] drastic penalties are required to help further protect children from a serious crime,” said Gov. Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, who signed the legislation Wednesday after it gained parliament approval.
Previously, the region’s rape laws carried a maximum penalty of 21 years behind bars for the rape of an adult, and a life sentence for the rape of a child.
The tough new punishments comes as a bid to curb sexual violence, which has spiked dramatically in the African nation during the pandemic lockdown.
Nearly 800 cases of sexual violence were reported between January and May in Nigeria — a major surge — prompting women’s rights groups to call for stricter punishments.