An Analysis of Women’s Rights in Northern Nigerian Islamic Court

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A Northern Nigerian Islamic Court sentenced a single mother, Amina Lawal, to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock. Lawal is the second Nigerian woman condemned to death by stoning for engaging in sex outside of marriage. The first woman, Safiya Hussaini had her sentence overturned in March on her first appeal, after giving birth to a child outside of marriage. In October of 2001, Lawal was found guilty of sex out of wedlock in. After a lower Islamic court in the Katsina state rejected Lawals appeal to the death by stoning sentence.
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Lawals lawyers are planning to appeal her case to a higher Islamic court, possibly the Supreme Court. According to AP, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Fatima Usman, were also sentenced to death by an Islamic Court for committing adultery. They are currently awaiting an appeal.
While unmarried, Amina became pregnant. Local villagers had her arrested. She was brought before a Regional Court where she was charged with the crime of adultery.

In comparison to Safiya, Amina had no legal representation and there are serious questions about whether the nature of the charges was adequately explained to her. Under the Katsina regional law, admitting to having a baby amounts to a confession to the crime of adultery. As in the case of Safiya Hussaini, the man identified as Amina’s partner – the alleged father of her baby daughter – was released. The court said there was insufficient evidence against him. For him to be convicted, he must either confess, or 4 other men must testify that they witnessed the adultery.

The Nigerian government promised last week to stop the Islamic courts from carrying out sentences of death by stoning. According to the Associated Press, Dubem Onyia the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs stated, Nobody will ever be stoned as a result of Sharia (Islamic) law. Nobody. They also vowed to go against sentences in the northern states that provoke international outcry.
Onyia went on to say that the Nigerian government would not force the Islamic court systems to change their laws, but instead the cases would be overturned on an individual basis. Many human rights campaigners said that though Onyias pledge is a step in the right direction, it does not ensure the safety of those accused and those who may be sentenced in the future.
The Sharia law was established in a predominantly Muslim part of northern Nigerias, called Zamfara since 2000, has spread to at least twelve other states. The introduction of Islamic holy law has created tensions between the Christian and Islamic populations. At least two riots have broken out over the threat of introducing sharia, resulting in the deaths of more that 3,000 thousand people.
If any one wanted to petition against these horrible tactics for death please go to OPRAH.COM, and look the Amina Lawal Act and send your letter to the ambassador, and our government so we can try and stop this.
We highlighted the enormous public support for the plight of Amina Lawal, in what must have been one of the biggest mobilisations in the history of the Internet. We still receive thousands of e-mails of support from people from all over the world and hundreds of web sites have placed links to our web site.
On Friday September 27, we presented 1.3 million-strong petition for Amina Lawal to the Nigerian officials of the London High Commission.
The suffering must end. Amina Lawal must not face death by stoning.
References

Oprah.com
The New York Times.Com

Kristopher Fitzgerald

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