It saddened me everytime I read about Sufiyatu. Like many others I have been
wondering about the man who made her pregnant. As the saying goes “it takes
two to tango”. She couldn’t have done it all by herself.

Just like brother Habib said, my father used to tell me that 3 people has to
witness the act for it to be to be used in any Sharia court. He (my father)
went on further to tell me that this was done to protect women, because then
for example a husband can’t just accuse his wife of committing adultery. He
has to produce 3 people that have witnessed the act. Reading this story, I
think this is the kind of situation Islam had in mind when they wrote this
law. How can there be justice in this when the three witnesses cannot be
produced?

This makes me wonder what kind of Sharia these people are practicing. I have
always said that Islam is the most misinterpreted religion but I think this
one beats it all. To hear those leaders talk about how bad adultery is and to
know how notorius Nigerian men are when it comes to playing around is so
hypocritical. They are talking as if it’s all the fault of the woman. Some are
saying that it’ll stop others from doing it. I wonder how this would stop it
when it’s just the woman who’s been punished. This would just make it ok for
other men to do it knowing that they can get away from it. I have fear and
pain for my sisters in that part of Nigeria. These men are using the religion
as a controlling mechanism, which puts all that women have worked for, many
years’ back. I shiver when I read about the eplicit describtion from one of
the men on how this stoning would be eventually carried.

I pray that the Nigerian Supreme Court would throw this case out and therefore
spare the life of Sufiyatu.

Isatou

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