The Nigerian Senate has approved a bill that would see people jailed for three years for marrying a person of the same sex. Anyone who witnessed, abetted or aided in the solemnisation of a same-sex marriage could receive up to five years in prison.

Homosexuality already carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years, or the death penalty under sharia laws in the country’s predominantly Muslim north.

“Opening the legal door to same-sex marriage in Nigeria will be morally and ideologically unsound when other traditionally shunned institutions [such] as incest remain illegal,” bill sponsor Senator Domingo Obende said.