Guest guest Posted August 26, 2002 Report Share Posted August 26, 2002 August 20, 2002 <A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-389123,00.html">Times Online</A> Mother loses appeal against death penalty By Michael Dynes, Africa Correspondent A 31-YEAR-OLD Nigerian woman was led from an Islamic court in tears yesterday after judges dismissed her appeal against death by stoning for bearing a child out of wedlock. If her conviction and sentence are not overturned on appeal before a higher court, she will be buried up to her waist and stoned to death by fellow villagers and the Islamic authorities. The packed courtroom in the conservative town of Funtua in Nigeria’s northern state of Katsina reverberated with cries of Allahu akbar (God is greatest) after Judge Aliyu Abdullani ordered that Amina Lawal should be stoned to death after her eight-month-old daughter, Wasila, has been weaned, which could be when she is two. He spoke on behalf of a panel of judges as Lawal cradled the child in her arms. Lawal, a divorcee who says that she was misled by the father of the child, could be the first woman to be executed for adultery since a dozen states in Nigeria’s predominately Muslim north began adopting the Sharia system more than two years ago. The judgment was a sharp reversal for the federal Government, which chose the case to challenge the reintroduction of Sharia. Lawal told the authorities that the father of Wasila, her third child, was Yahaya Mahmud, her boyfriend of 11 months, who she said had seduced her with an offer of marriage. Mr Mahmud admitted being Lawal’s boyfriend, but swore on the Koran that he was not the father. He was discharged. Lawal was tried and convicted on the basis of her confession. This mirrored Nigeria’s previous stoning case, that of 35-year-old Safiya Husseini, later acquitted on a legal technicality. Under Sharia’s rules of proof, witnesses are required to convict a man of adultery, while a woman may be condemned for falling pregnant. Clara Obazele, a spokeswoman for Aisha Ismail, the federal Women’s Affairs Minister, said: “This is a young woman with a child. A woman can not be pregnant without a man, so where is that man? He deserves similar punishment. It’s not fair.†The verdict provoked protests from Lawal’s lawyers and human rights activists who have backed her case as part of a wider campaign against what they describe as the “injustices and excesses†of Sharia. The verdict also shocked her supporters, including Ms Obazele. The federal Government has clashed with the northern states over Sharia but has yet to take concrete steps to ban it. “We thought they were going to discharge her,†Ms Obazele said. “We’re going to appeal.†Aliyu Musa Yawuri, Lawal’s lawyer, said that she had been tried retroactively. He said that her offence was committed before the new law came into effect, and that she would appeal. Lawal was convicted of the Islamic crime of zina, or adultery, and sentenced to death in March. A regional appeals court gave her a two-year reprieve in June, allowing her to wean her child before the death sentence was carried out. Her lawyers had hoped that the case would follow the precedent set by the court which quashed the sentence against Safiya Husseini in March after a worldwide appeal for clemency led by the European Union. Lawal’s lawyers now have 30 days to appeal against the judges’ verdict, which is expected to be fought all the way up to Nigeria’s Supreme Court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 26, 2002 Report Share Posted August 26, 2002 In 1864, somewhere in the Colorado Territory of the United States, a former Methodist minister named Col. John Milton Chivington instructed his men to destroy an Indian village: "Kill and scalp all, little and big ... Nits make lice." During the seven hours of the attack, a 6-year-old bearing a white flag was shot dead on the spot. One soldier carved out a woman's genitals and brandished them on a stick. Bodies were mutilated, brains knocked out, infants clubbed. In this case of genocide, the perpetrators were 700 American soldiers, and the victims, 500 noncombatant Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. -------------------- In 2002, lawyers for President Bush have concluded he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval from Congress, in part because they say that permission remains in force from the 1991 resolution giving Bush's father authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf, according to administration officials. -------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 26, 2002 Report Share Posted August 26, 2002 All: Can we end this topic please? This list is for discussions about Amma. It is not for spreading the horrors of the world. Your kind cooperation is appreciated. Peter White Moderator, Ammachi Chat List > August 20, 2002 > <A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-389123,00.html">Times Online</A> > Mother loses appeal against death penalty > By Michael Dynes, Africa Correspondent > > A 31-YEAR-OLD Nigerian woman was led from an Islamic court in tears > yesterday > after judges dismissed her appeal against death by stoning for bearing a > child out of wedlock. > <snip> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 26, 2002 Report Share Posted August 26, 2002 On the other hand, Amma frequently is an outspoken advocate for women's¹ rights and has done a lot to improve the plight of women in India. She might not mind that a forum in her name is sometimes used to make people more aware of certain injustices. News of these atrocities spreading around the world through the Internet helps to bring public pressure on those who perpetrate them. > pwhite0130 > Ammachi > Mon, 26 Aug 2002 17:17:46 EDT > Ammachi > Re: Islamic law & death penalty > > > All: > > Can we end this topic please? > > This list is for discussions about Amma. It is not for spreading the horrors > of the world. > > Your kind cooperation is appreciated. > > Peter White > Moderator, Ammachi Chat List > >> > August 20, 2002 >> > <A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-389123,00.html">Times >> Online</A> >> > Mother loses appeal against death penalty >> > By Michael Dynes, Africa Correspondent >> > >> > A 31-YEAR-OLD Nigerian woman was led from an Islamic court in tears >> > yesterday >> > after judges dismissed her appeal against death by stoning for bearing a >> > child out of wedlock. >> > <snip> > > > > > > > Sponsor > > > Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha! > > Ammachi > > > Terms of Service > <> . > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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