One day after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed legislation criminalizing homointercourseuality, police reportedly began rounding up gay men in Africa's most populous country. On Monday, Jonathan signed the bill, which was passed by the national assembly in May, and contains harsh penalties for homointercourseual activity and membership in gay rights groups. "Persons who enter into a same-intercourse marriage contract or civil union commit an offence and are each liable on conviction to a term of 14 years in prison," the law says. "Any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organizations or directly or indirectly makes public show of same-intercourse amorous relationship in Nigeria commits an offence and shall each be liable on conviction to a term of 10 years in prison." The law is popular among Nigerians, a country where sodomy is already illegal. Under the country's criminal code, elements of which date back to British colonial times, homointercourseual conduct falls under "Offenses Against Morality" and a person who "has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature" can be imprisoned. "This is a law that is in line with the people's cultural and religious inclination," Jonathan's spokesman Reuben Abati told the AP. "Nigerians are pleased with it." Under the new law, same-intercourse "amorous relationships" are banned, as is membership in gay rights groups, prohibitions that have sparked both fear and defiance among Nigeria's gay activists. The government "have just legalized violence, stigma and discrimination," a gay man in Lagos, who asked not to be identified for his safety, told AFP. "Our situation has gone from bad to worse." The man said that he particularly feared for LGBT people in majority-Muslim northern Nigeria, a region that is administered partly under Islamic law. In Bauchi State, in northern Nigeria, police have reportedly arrested dozens of gay men in the past few weeks. The AP reports that police targeted gay men, tortured them into naming others, and are hunting more gay men down. Chairman Mustapha Baba Ilela of Bauchi state Shariah Commission, which oversees Islamic law in the state, told the(http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&blog=19871253&post=128151&subd=timeglobalspin&ref=&feed=1)