All,
This should be an alarming concern for all peace and
justice loving people. Nigeria is first to get to the
extreme but let us pray and hope for the best that the
fool, Yahya Jammeh will not join the bandwagon, since
he had no sense of direction. The recent visit of
religious leaders should be taken with caution as they
are trying to regulate even the decent clothing we
wear. What a pathetic to put into consideration when
those same kids, you seems to care had been murdered
bright day and not a word had been said about it.
They need to give us a break.
Peace!
Simon.
--- Habib Ghanim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<HR>
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P><BR><BR></P>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>I think personally that the man who raped her
should be the one to be killed not her.</P></DIV>
<P>This is wrong.</P></DIV>
<P>As long as there is no evidence actually witness by
three people then it is a foolish case and it should
have been closed long time ago. Period.</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P> </P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>If this lady was my sister or daughter , I would
have solved the problem long time ago even before it
gets to a court. Sick men like this rapist must be
punished not the victims.</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>Habib Diab Ghanim<BR><BR></P>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Madiba Saidy
<[log in to unmask]>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues
mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>To: [log in to unmask]
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Death by Stoning
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 12:48:03 -0800
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>I ain't gonna say this is crude,
but..... nevermind. You be the judge.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Madiba.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>January 27, 2002
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Death by Stoning
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>By RICHARD DOWDEN
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiyatu Huseini sits on the earth
floor of a tiny mud
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>hut breast-feeding her 10-month-old
daughter, Adama,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and occasionally waving away flies that
swarm around
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the child's eyes and mouth. She says
she is 35, but
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>her wizened face and broken brown teeth
make her look
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>considerably older. This ordinary
woman, as poor as
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>any in this impoverished region of
northern Nigeria,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>recently became horribly extraordinary:
last June, an
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islamic court in Sokoto, the regional
capital,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sentenced her to death by stoning for
committing
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>adultery. The evidence is the child she
now feeds. The
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>judge mandated that the sentence be
carried out as
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>soon as Adama is weaned.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiya, as the woman is known, has
appealed the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>judgment, and a hearing is scheduled
for the middle of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>March. But there is a good chance that
the appeal will
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>not save her. The recent introduction
of the full
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia -- strict Islamic rule of law
backed up by
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>harsh punishments -- in 10 of Nigeria's
12 northern
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>states is a highly political issue in
the region,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>whose population is largely Islamic and
whose courts
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>are strongly influenced by the militant
Islamists who
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>have come to wield significant power.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiya lives in Tungar Tudu, a village
some 20 miles
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>from Sokoto, which in the 19th century
was the capital
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of an extensive African Islamic empire
and is now a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sleepy, poverty-stricken backwater. You
reach the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>village by a dusty track that leads
through arid
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>fields of shriveled corn and millet.
The 3,000 or so
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>people who live in the mud-and-straw
homes grow only
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>enough to survive on. Water comes from
an
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>old-fashioned well served by a bucket
made from
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>long-discarded tire tubing -- one of
the only signs of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>modernity in the village. Last year, 40
years after
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Nigeria achieved independence from
Britain, the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>federal government provided the first
services to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Tungar Tudu, building a primary school
and a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>dispensary.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>The only furnishings in Sufiya's hut
are three plastic
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>mats. With her are her blind father and
a neighbor
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>whose hands have been reduced to
gnarled stumps by
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>leprosy. Speaking in Hausa, the local
language, Sufiya
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>explains through an interpreter that
last year she
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>divorced her husband, which is
allowable under Islamic
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>law, because he could not support her.
She returned to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>her father's house with her two
children. But then,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>she says, a 60-year-old man named
Yakubu Abubakar
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>began to show interest in her. ''He
used fetish charms
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>to woo me, but he did not succeed,''
she says. As she
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>goes on to tell the story, she grows
more solemn.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>''One day I was in the bush, and he
ambushed me and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>forced me. That happened four times. I
am telling you
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>as I am telling God. I suddenly found
myself pregnant.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>I was embarrassed for what this would
do to me and to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>my family.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Not long after her pregnancy began to
show, the police
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>arrived and interrogated her. She says
she has no idea
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>who told them. Sufiya, who is
illiterate, and Abubakar
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>were then taken to the police station
in Sokoto, where
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>they confessed to having sex. At the
time, Sufiya did
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>not say that she had been raped. ''He
said he loved me
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and he could not suppress his feelings
for me,'' she
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>says of Abubakar. ''He promised to take
care of the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>child. My father suggested that he
should marry me,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and he agreed.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Had this happened before the
introduction of the full
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia law, the families would have
come to an
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>arrangement supported by the village.
Abubakar would
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>have had to care for Sufiya and her
child but not
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>necessarily marry her. But now it is
out of their
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>hands. When it came to the court
hearing last June,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Abubakar denied everything.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Under the most common interpretation of
Islamic law,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>adultery can be proved only if someone
confesses to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>it, or if the act is seen by four male
witnesses. But
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the mainly Muslim northern states of
Nigeria have by
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and large adopted the Maliki tradition,
the strictest
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>interpretation of the Koran, in which
pregnancy alone
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>is sufficient evidence of adultery. Sex
between two
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>unmarried people is punished by
beatings, but the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>penalty for adultery, if one partner is
or has been
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>married, is death. Lacking witnesses to
the act,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Abubakar was acquitted. But on the
evidence of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiya's pregnancy, Judge Muhammad
Bello Sanyinlawal
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sentenced her to death by stoning. ''I
was shattered
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>when the judge said that,'' she says.
''I never
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>thought there would be such a
punishment.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Immediately after the sentencing,
Sufiya ran away from
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Tungar Tudu, but she was eventually
caught and taken
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>back to the village, where she is
allowed to remain
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>with her family until her appeal is
heard. While no
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>one in Tungar Tudu will speak out
publicly for fear of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>retribution, the villagers appear to
support her; if
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>they did not, they would have expelled
her. Instead,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>it is Abubakar who has left the village
and gone into
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>hiding.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Initially, Sufiya said that the law was
not justly
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>applied because she had been raped by
Abubakar.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Earlier this month, however, Sufiya and
her lawyers --
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>who are being paid by Baobab, a
national women's
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>support group financed by the Ford and
MacArthur
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Foundations -- began mounting a
different defense,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>claiming that Adama was not fathered by
Abubakar but
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>is in fact the daughter of Sufiya's
former husband.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>When asked to explain the change in her
story, one of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiya's lawyers, Abdulkadir Imam, said
that her
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>original statement had been made under
duress and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>without legal representation. ''She did
not understand
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the nature and consequence of the
offense she was
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>charged with nor the questions she was
asked,'' he
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>said.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>For the last millennium, the area that
became Nigeria
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in 1906 has been plagued by tensions
between the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islamic north and the Christian and
animist south.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>When the British took over what is now
northern
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Nigeria at the end of the 19th century,
they retained
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islamic law but gradually removed the
harsher
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>punishments. In 1960, a new
Western-style penal code,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>which included some references to
Islamic law, was
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>introduced in the north.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>That remained the system until last
year, when one
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>after another, the newly elected state
governments of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the north reintroduced the full sharia,
some
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>enthusiastically, others under pressure
from militant
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islamists. By the end of this year, it
is very likely
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that between one-third and one-half of
Nigeria's 120
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>million people (census information is
notoriously
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>suspect here) will find themselves
living under a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>judicial system with which Mullah
Muhammad Omar, the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>ousted Taliban leader, would find
little to quibble.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Paradoxically, none of this would have
been possible
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>if not for the end of military rule two
years ago.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Since the election of President
Olusegun Obasanjo in
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>1999, 10 of Nigeria's northern states
have taken
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>advantage of a loosening of federal
control and the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>advent of democratic freedoms to
reintroduce the full
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia. Another state is expected to
introduce it, and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Niger has amended the 1960 law to
provide for sharia
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>criminal law.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>While there is little evidence of
Taliban-style
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islamic militancy on the streets of
Sokoto, in other
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>northern states churches have been
burned and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Christian women have been attacked for
not covering
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>their heads. Separate buses and taxis
have been
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>allocated for women, and the streets
are now patrolled
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by quasi-official Islamic enforcers,
the Hisbah, who
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>do not always distinguish between
Muslims and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>non-Muslims. Non-Muslims, in theory,
are exempt from
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia law.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>In recent months, several people in
northern Nigeria
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>have been lashed in public for petty
theft, drinking
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>alcohol or sexual offenses that did not
involve
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>adultery. In July, a young man in
Sokoto had his right
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>hand amputated for stealing a goat.
(The amputation
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>was carried out under anesthesia by a
qualified
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>surgeon, and the man was given 50,000
Naira -- $450 --
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by the state government ''to start a
new life.'')
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>There have been two other amputations
and numerous
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>lashings elsewhere in the northern
states. In one
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>well-publicized case, a 17-year-old
girl in Zamfara
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>State was given 100 lashes in public
with a leather
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>whip for having premarital sex. In
Katsina State, a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>man has been sentenced to have his
right eye removed
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in retribution for blinding another man
in an assault.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Moderate Muslims in the region, along
with
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>international human rights monitors,
worry that strict
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia law will become more widespread
as politicians
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>compete to exploit public enthusiasm
for law and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>order. The prospect of swift and harsh
punishment
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>appeals to many in the north, where the
police are
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>seen as ineffective and corrupt. And
the citizens of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>northern Nigeria, most of whom are
illiterate peasants
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>who have never enjoyed political or
civil rights, tend
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>to believe what they are told by the
ruling elite --
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sufiya and her father, for instance,
agree that
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>stoning is the correct punishment for
adultery.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>All of this makes northern Nigeria
fertile ground for
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>political opportunists. Ahmed Sani, the
governor of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Zamfara State, in northwestern Nigeria,
openly admits
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that under the military regime he used
his position
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>with the central bank to amass a
fortune. After 1999,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>he leveraged his wealth to buy his way,
quite
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>literally, to the governorship. (Votes
in Nigeria's
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>new democracy are cheap, and it is
accepted practice
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that candidates pay off local chiefs,
who then deliver
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>their people.) After his election, Sani
then turned to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Islam to cement his base among locals
and to position
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>himself for the next election. He now
uses his newly
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>acquired Islamic credentials to build
support among
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the faithful and to demonize his
opponents.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Many Muslim leaders oppose the
wholesale adoption of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>strict sharia, fearing that it will
ultimately be
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>rejected by a population in which
support is wider
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>than it is deep. They would prefer that
it be voted
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>upon in a referendum by the people and
not imposed by
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>a legislature or governor. But the
moderate leaders
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>find it next to impossible to stand up
to politicians
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>like Sani without appearing to be
un-Islamic.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Aliyu Abubakar Sanyinna, the attorney
general of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sokoto State, relaxes in a grandiose
armchair under
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>gently turning fans in his home. He
dispenses a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>mixture of theology and governance that
chills with
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>its casual certainties and its
disregard for political
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and human implications. With his two
young daughters
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>playing at his feet, he speculates on
how a stoning
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>might be carried out: ''They will dig a
pit and put
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the convicted person in it so that he
or she cannot
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>escape. Or he or she will be tied to a
tree or a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>pillar. There will be special people
trained for this,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>as many as possible, but the number
will be determined
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by the court.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>How big should the stones be?
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>''Not big ones, moderate-size ones --
like this.'' He
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>holds up a fist. He says that he would
be happy to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>cast the first stone if asked to by the
court.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>He describes adultery as the second
most serious crime
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>under Islamic law, the first being
insulting Allah.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>''Adultery is more serious than
murder,'' he says.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>''Society is injured by her act. The
danger is that it
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>will teach other people to do the same
thing.'' It is
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>a curious statement, coming from an
official in a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>country -- including the Muslim north
-- where it is
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>common for married men to boast of
their numerous
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>girlfriends.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sanyinna attributes a recent fall in
crime to the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>introduction of the sharia and
justifies the harshness
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of the punishments as an extension of
God's law. He
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>adds that southern Christians
frequently kill thieves
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by burning tires around their necks
(though he
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>acknowledges that it is not sanctioned
by the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>government). Also, Sanyinna notes, the
federal
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>government in Abuja has agreed to
relinquish power to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the states and therefore should not
interfere with
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>this case.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>eneath a copy of the United Nations
Declaration of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Human Rights taped to his office wall,
Mansur Ibrahim
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sa'id, dean of the law faculty at Dan
Fodio University
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in Sokoto, says that he, too, would
take part in the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>stoning if asked to by the court.
''What can I do?''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>he asks. ''If the state calls on
someone to do his
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>duty and carry out a law that has been
properly
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>passed, he must do it. If she is stoned
to death, she
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>is content. God has said that is the
way she should go
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>because she has broken his law. And
those stoning her
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>will be happy because they are carrying
out God's
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>will.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sa'id was a member of the committee
that drafted
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Sokoto's new legal code. Like Sanyinna,
he makes the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>case against Sufiya with something less
than academic
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>detachment. Adultery, he says, is ''an
abomination
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>abhorred by God and society'' because
of the example
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>it gives and because it creates
bastards who will be
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>rejected by society. He says that
Sufiya's pregnancy
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>constitutes perfect proof of her guilt.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Asked whether stipulations in the
United Nations
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Charter against cruel, degrading and
inhuman treatment
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>conflict with amputations and stonings,
Sa'id replies:
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>''You have to decide what amounts to
cruelty and take
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>into account the religious background.
What yardstick
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>are you using? You have to know if the
people who use
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>this law see it as cruel and inhuman.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>And how does the theft of a goat
compare with the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>notorious theft of millions of dollars
of public funds
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by senior military officers and
officials in previous
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>regimes? Sa'id says that the officials
were guilty of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>embezzlement, a lesser crime than
theft. Under sharia,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>he says, embezzlement does not merit
severe
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>punishments like amputation.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>There are Islamic scholars in Nigeria
who oppose the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>verdict in Sufiya's case. Mohammed
Ladan, a lecturer
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in law at Ahmadu Bello University at
Zaria, called it
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>a misapplication of the sharia because
the authority
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of the court was weak and the incident
lacked the four
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>witnesses required by Koranic law.
Beyond that, there
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>are serious questions about whether the
federal
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>government will allow the execution to
go ahead.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>If Sufiya's appeal is rejected in the
regional court
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of appeal, which is also a sharia
court, it will end
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>up in Nigeria's supreme court, whose
judges will face
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>a tough political choice. If they turn
down the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>appeal, they will certainly upset the
monitors who
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>shape international opinion of
Nigeria's federal
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>government, and their decision will be
disconcerting
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>to those in the south who are troubled
by the extent
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of sharia rule in the north, where many
southerners
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>now live. But if they uphold the
appeal, they will
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>appear to be overruling Islamic law,
thereby offending
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the growing numbers of galvanized
Muslim northerners.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Nigeria's constitution forbids the
establishment of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>any religion at the national or state
level. But those
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in favor of sharia argue that a
precedent has been set
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>by the acceptance of civil aspects of
sharia law in
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the north for a century. Last month,
Nigeria's justice
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>minister, Bola Ige, said that the
sentence of stoning
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>was ''harsh and crude'' and promised
that ''this type
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of thing will not happen in Nigeria in
2002.'' (He was
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>assassinated in late December; the
murder is not
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>believed to be associated with this
case.) President
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Obasanjo has said nothing about the
case so far and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>has barely commented upon the
reintroduction of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia. In one instance, when asked
about sharia, the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>president said simply that he hoped
that the problem
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>would go away.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>That could be wishful thinking. ''For a
political
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>leader to advocate its abolition would
be political
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>suicide,'' says Prof. Ruud Peters of
the University of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Amsterdam, who just completed a study
on the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>implementation of sharia in Nigeria. He
points out
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that in Pakistan and Libya, which have
each made
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>sharia the national law, amputations
and stonings are
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>never imposed, even though they are
carried on the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>statute books. In northern Nigeria, he
says, sharia
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>law has been drafted differently, and
sloppily, for
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>each state. He urges the drafting of
laws that would
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>not only make the law consistent from
state to state
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>but would also emphasize restrictions
and limitations
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that make the application of severe
Koranic
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>punishments more difficult.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Waiting in her father's hut for the day
when she will
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>be either spared or stoned, Sufiya is
oblivious to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>these subtleties and to the growing
international
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>significance of her case. She plainly
states that it
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>is not sharia law she is fighting; she
simply wants to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>receive justice. ''As a Muslim,'' she
says, ''I know
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>the laws of God are being
implemented.'' She looks
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>down for a moment at Adama nursing at
her breast, then
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>finishes her thought. ''But the law
must be fair.''
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Richard Dowden covers Africa for The
Independent and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>The Economist.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>><</ \\>>//\\<</
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