Thursday, December 20, 2001 Sharia court orders amputation of hands, legs in Sokoto From Eric Meya (Sokoto) EVEN as the state government grapples with the furore generated by the death sentence passed on Safiya Husaini over alleged adultery, a Sharia court in Sokoto State has ordered the amputation of the right hands and left legs of two convicted armed robbers. The duo, Malam Sani Shehu (a.k.a Wang Yu) and Malam Garba Dandare (a.k.a Dan Jega), were found guilty for stealing a policeman's beret, belt and bicycle. They were also accused of robbing one Sababa Bamaiyi of No. 1, Sama Road, Sokoto, of electronic equipment valued at N130,000 and N80,000 cash. According to the prosecutor, the robbers stole the police officer's belongings while asleep at the residence of the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states. The judge, Kadi Bawa Sahabi Tambuwal, said the convicted men's punishment was based on the fact that they were found guilty of armed robbery and not ordinary theft. He said the verdict was based on the provision in the Holy Quran and Suratul Ma'idah Chapter 5 verses 32 and 33. He said the court also took into cognisance section 150 (B) of the Sharia penal code. He said they have 30 days to appeal against the judgement. However, the accused persons said they were satisfied with the judgement and would not appeal. The Islamic legal code came into operation in the North in January 2000, with Zamfara State blazing the trail. Governor Sani Ahmed had said then that it was meant to rid the society of corruption and other social vices. By November, Kaduna State had joined the club of Sharia states, as it adopted the Islamic law as the legal means of regulating the private and public lives of its citizens. At the last count, no fewer than 12 states are operating Sharia. Literally, Sharia means "the source of all life, the straight part of Allah." And in a bid to make people thread this path, several sanctions had been imposed on those who deviated from the path of life. Some have been asked to pay the supreme price - death - while others have lost their limbs. The first victim of Sharia was Mallam Bello Jangebe whose hand was severed for stealing a cow. And for stealing two bicycles, Lawali Isa, a fire-wood seller, became the second person whose hand had to be amputated. He did not appeal against the judgement. Consequently, his hand was amputated. But his wife never recovered from the shock she suffered when she saw her husband without his two hands after returning from "guillotine room." A traditional ruler in Jigawa State was also caught by the long arm of Sharia. The ruler, Alhaji Abba Ajiya of Kazaure, was sentenced to one year imprisonment and 40 strokes of the cane, by an Upper Sharia Court in Kazaure, for "camping" a housewife, Faiza Bala. The conviction of the traditional ruler for "unlawfully kept" woman, came after a trial which lasted six weeks, during which love letters, among other exhibits, were tendered. The offence, which is contrary to section 389 of the penal code, carries a punishment of two years imprisonment and N5,000 fine or both. In November this year, the Deputy Speaker of Zamfara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulsalami Ahmed Asha, was arraigned before a Sharia court in Samaru, Gusau, for selling his official peugeot car at the cost of N2.1 million. In Funtua, Katsina State, two policemen received 100 strokes of the cane following their conviction by a Sharia court over illegal confiscation of petrol from fuel vendors. The fuel vendors had reported the policemen to the Sharia court, alleging that they forcefully took the petroleum product from them. But to avoid the wrath of Sharia, a 28-year-old man, Mohammed Ali, had to renounce his faith following his arraignment in Sokoto Upper Sharia court for stealing. Ali, who professed to be a Christian, said he should be tried according to Biblical injunctions, which he said forbid amputation. The judge, Mallam Bawa Salabi Tambuwal, however, said even under Biblical laws, Ali cannot escape amputation. He said Matthew chapter five, verse 30 recommended amputation of the right hand of a thief. Ali was eventually sentenced to nine months imprisonment. He later reaffirmed his faith, Islam, after escaping amputation. In Narbodo, a town in Toro Local Council area of Bauchi State, a Sharia court handed down a 100 strokes of the cane sentence to a pregnant woman, Hajo Poki, for committing fornication. Poki, who was impregnated by one Suleiman Poki, was to be flogged after the delivery of the seven month-old pregnancy she was carrying then. The court ruled that the woman failed to prove her case that the man had an intercourse with her, without evidence, an offence contrary to section 142 of the Sharia penal code. But the most celebrated of all the convictions of accused persons by Sharia court is that of a 35-year-old Safiya Husaini, who was sentenced to death by stoning in October this year. Before Safiya, however, a 35-year-old man, Attahiru Umar, had been sentenced to death also by stoning, for committing sodomy with a minor by an Upper Sharia Court in Birnin Kebbi, capital of Kebbi State. That was the first sentence of death by stoning passed by a Sharia Court. Umar who confessed to the offence, was given the right to appeal against the sentence. Also sentenced to death was a man, Sani Rodi, who was to be killed by knifing after he was convicted by Katsina City Sharia court for taki the lives of a housewife and two of her children. Safiya, the first woman to receive a death sentence, was found guilty of adultery by an Upper Sharia Court in Sokoto. But reprieve came her way, when the sentence was suspended by a higher Sharia court. Her case had attracted both national and international attention with several local and international bodies, including government, demanding that she be left off the hook. Safiya has also alleged that she was raped by Yakubu Abubakar, the man who impregnated her . "There was no justice: I was seduced by a man and that man was asked to be set free while I am being punished. I want to get justice", she had told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Safiya's sentence, like others before it, has attracted scathing criticisms. "It would be crass, a miscarriage of justice, to carry out the death sentence on me, for a baby I conceived through rape," the 35-year-old Sokoto woman, who had been married twice, said. But criticism of the Sharia and pronouncements by its courts, are largely "unmerited," according to Governor Abdulkardir Kure of Niger State. Kure, who spoke in Minna during inauguration of a commission, which is working on modalities for implementation of Sharia in the state, said Nigeria Moslems have "unqualified rights to live their lives in accordance with the tenets of their religion. "It is a flagrant exhibition of arrogance to call a law, which all Moslems considered to be divine, barbaric," Kure said further. Governor Ahmed Sanni Yerima of Zamfara State said Sharia is a dividend of democracy to the people. At a ceremony during which he swore-in the state's acting Grand Kahdi, Alhaji Muhammed Bello Alkali, Sani said through the introduction of Sharia, Zamfara has carved a niche for itself among other states. <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>