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Lawyers, non - governmental organisations protest sharia
court death sentence on a pregnant divorcee and mother of four. V
Criticisms have continued to trail the death sen-tence by stoning passed
on Safiya Hussaini by an upper sharia court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State
on October 10. Safiya, a 30-year-old mother of four was alleged to have
become pregnant after committing adultery with one Yakubu Abubakar, a
33-year-old man who denied responsibility for the woman’s pregnancy.
Muhammed Bello Seyinnal, the trial court judge said that the convict
confessed to committing adultery, an offence
punishable by stoning to death based on Islamic law. The judge said
that his judgment was based purely on Islamic jurisprudence. He ruled
that since Safiya was an expectant mother, the sentence would take effect
after she delivers and weans the child.
Her fate has attracted public interest. Bola Ige, minister for justice
and attorney-general of the federation said the federal government would
not fold its hands and watch Safiya stoned to death. He promised that
the federal government would challenge the sentence passed by the sharia
court. He said that by the 1999 constitution every citizen of the country
had a right to life and that the federal government was determined to
ensure that Safiya’s right to life was not denied her.
Florence Aya, chairman of the house committee on women affairs, said
that the speaker, Ghali Umar Na’Abba and his deputy, Chibudom Nwuche
had already waded into the matter since according to her “Safiya
must not be allowed to die.”
But Janet Adeyemi, a member of the committee said at a press conference
in Abuja, November 19, that the House of Representatives has had its hands
tied, since according to her the sharia law under which Safiya was tried
and convicted was recognised by the 1999 constitution. She said that the
house committee could do little and that attempts to raise the matter
by members as of urgent national importance were unsuccessful. She said
that the committee had resorted to the use of non-governmental organisations,
NGOs to try to save Safiya’s life. Adeyemi re-iterated the need to
balance the provisions of the sharia with the right to life, adding that
the constitution needed to be amended to resolve the divergent issues.
Halima Abdullahi, director of Help Eliminate Loneliness and Poverty,
HELP, a non-governmental organisation, also faulted the verdict. In a
statement she issued last week, she said “it was a thorough embarrassment”
to majority of Nigerian Muslims. The group argued that the judgment was
wrong because Safiya was accused of adultery instead of fornication since
she was a divorcee. Again, four witnesses stipulated by the Islamic law
were not available at the trial. The verdict was passed because Safiya
comes from an under-privileged class, the organisation argued. While describing
the verdict as “gender discrimination of the highest order,”
the group called on Governor Attahiru Bafarawa to intervene to save Safiya’s
life.
The Coalition of Eastern NGOs, CENGOs, an umbrella organisation of
NGOs operating in the south-east and south-south of Nigeria said in
a press release signed by its co-ordinators, Oby Nwankwo and Miriam
Menkilu, last week that it was opposed to the death sentence. It said
the judgment amounted to selective justice which was contrary to the
basis of the principle of rule of law and sense of justice. The body
said that a situation where the target of the implementation of a law
was a particular sex, ran contrary to the tenets of human rights, equity
and justice and contradicted all known principles of international norms.
They, therefore, called on the Sokoto State governor to intervene in
the matter to ensure that justice was not only done but also seen to
have been done.
But Abubakar Sanyinma, commissioner for justice and attorney-general
in Sokoto State insisted that the decision of the upper sharia court was
irreversible. He said the federal government had no right to prevent the
state government from executing any judgment passed by sharia courts in
the state. He said that Safiya had the right to appeal to the Sharia Court
of Appeal or the Supreme Court where there is a panel of sharia judges,
and if she failed she would certainly face execution according to Islamic
law.
Related Links:
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Amnesty
International Take Action
... from Death by Stoning Nigeria Safiya Yakubu
Hussaini, a 30-year-old woman and a
resident of Tungar-Tudu in Sokoto State in northern Nigeria,
was tried in a ...
http://www.amnesty-usa.org/action/nigeria11142001.html
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Appello
urgente - Johhny Paul Penry
NO to the Death Penalty International Campaign. pdm_s.gif (3224 byte).
Urgent appeals, Safiya Hussaini Tungar - Tudu Nigeria.
News. ...
http://www.santegidio.org/en/pdm/news/ap_safir.htm
More Results From: www.santegidio.org
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allAfrica.com:
Death By Stoning: Woman in Hiding
... Safiya had no defence, said the judge. In the Maliki
school of Islamic jurisprudence
which guides the adjudication of Sharia judges in Northern Nigeria,
the ...
http://allafrica.com/stories/200111010492.html
More Results From: allafrica.com
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Nigeria
: condamnation à mort d'une femme selon la Charia ( ...
... décision prise par une cour islamique du nord du Nigeria
de condamner à mort par
lapidation, Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu après l'avoir déclarée
coupable ...
http://www.hrw.org/french/press/2001/nigeria1023-fr.htm
More Results From: www.hrw.org
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Soutenons
Safiya Tungar-Tudu
... la cause de Safiya Tungar-Tudu ! mon adresse email
: message : Les signatures
recueillies seront acheminées vers le site de la présidence du Nigeria.
http://www.afrik.com/petition_main.php
More Results From: www.afrik.com
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Yahoo!
Politics - Issue Watch - www.feminist.org - ...
... SOKOTO, NIGERIA Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu
has become the first woman to be sentenced
to death by stoning under the Nigerian state of Sokoto's new Islamic
...
http://politics.yahoo.com/politics/issue_watch/organization/fmf1/CA65700fmf1/
More Results From: politics.yahoo.com
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Feminist
Majority Foundation Global Daily News Wire
... Sex - An Islamic court in Sokoto state in northern Nigeria
last week sentenced Safiya
Hussaini Tungar Dudu to death by stoning for having pre-marital sex.
.. ...
http://www.feminist.org/Global/globalwire.asp?offset=10
More Results From: www.feminist.org
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MENTELOCALE
- Il primo portale con i piedi per terra - fai ...
... Magli e Oriana Fallaci. Ah, in Nigeria c'e' una ragazza
di nome Safiya che sta per
dare alla luce un bambino concepito fuori del matrimonio. Secondo la
shaarya ...
http://www.mentelocale.it/menteforum/america/00000811?expand_all=1
More Results From: www.mentelocale.it
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United
Nations agencies sharpen strategies against FGM
... their involvement and commitment to moving women’s issues
forward," said Safiya
Muhammad of Nigeria’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social
Development and ...
http://www.unfpa.org/modules/dispatch/issues99/apr99/fgm.htm
More Results From: www.unfpa.org
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Nigeria
HomeCook News Page
... Safiya: Group accuses judge, lawyers of gender bias
Obasanjo orders Army to ... in Katsina.
Izuogu denies report on Saraki. Urhobo blames Nigeria's woes
on military. ...
http://www.nigeriainfonet.com/nigeria_homecook_news_page.htm
More Results From: www.nigeriainfonet.com
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Mailgate.ORG
Web Server: soc.culture.nigeria
... death sentence against Safiya Hussaini, Marie Froeßl
NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES, odua peoples congress Nigeria shipyard
privatisation ...
http://www.mailgate.org/soc/soc.culture.nigeria/
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Islamic
Human Right Violations : Death By Stoning: Woman in ...
... Northern Nigeria, the manifestation of pregnancy is
sufficient proof of cuulpability
of adultery for women. At the time of her appearance at the court, Safiya
...
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/news1/an011104-14.html
More Results From: www.gospelcom.net
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news3
... on Wednesday that Nigeria's federal ministry of women
affairs had filed an appeal
at the state's Sharia Appeal Court. The woman, Safiya Hussaini
Tungar-Tudu ...
http://www.ncadp.org/html/news3.html
More Results From: www.ncadp.org
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Womens
Economic Rights> :WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY STONING
... Sir, PETITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY BY STONING AGAINST SAFIYA
HUSSAINI TUNGAR-TUDU
Women's Right Watch Nigeria wish to protest vehemently the violation
of the ...
http://www.kabissa.org/lists/archives/public/womenseconomicrights-conference/2001-October/000050.htm
l
More Results From: www.kabissa.org
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Feminist
Media Watch # 275: "death penalty in Nigeria"
... death penalty in Nigeria posted by beth at 08:47 AM
PST: It's not just Afghanistan
and the Taleban we should be worried about. Hajiya Safiya Hussain
has been ...
http://f-word.org/watch/past/00000275.html
More Results From: f-word.org
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Woman
to die for adultery
... Islamic legal code was introduced in various parts of Nigeria
last year. A middle-aged
woman, Safiya Hussaini Tungar Tudu, was condemned to death by
stoning ...
http://www.gamji.com/oct13-10.htm
More Results From: www.gamji.com
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Anyim
decries bias of justice in Sharia
... odds of burden of proof and weight of evidence vis-à-vis
the plight of Safiya in
the course of your deliberation at this First Nigeria Human Rights
Summit. ...
http://www.vanguardngr.com/news/articles/2001/November/03112001/wn331101.htm
More Results From: www.vanguardngr.com
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nig008
Nigerian woman sentenced to death for pre-marital sex
... 24 October - The Islamic court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State,
in northern Nigeria
sentenced Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu to death by stoning after
finding her ...
http://www.afrol.com/News2001/nig008_sharia_women.htm
More Results From: www.afrol.com
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Black
Women Today - Content Articles
... the Washington-based Federal Republic of Nigeria
Ambassador Professor Jibril M.Aminu
said ... added that he was confident Safiya Hussaini
would not be stoned to ...
http://www.tbwt.com/blackwomentoday/content/article.asp?articleid=2324
More Results From: www.tbwt.com
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Should Safiya Die: By Chikodi Okerecha