Nigerian Women to Appeal Shariah Court Death Sentences
Two women sentenced to death by a court in northern Nigeria are seeking to appeal the sentences, a human rights group said Friday
Two women sentenced to death by a court in northern Nigeria are seeking to appeal the sentences, a human rights group said Friday. The women, sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery, will see their appeals heard on Oct. 25 and Nov. 3 respectively.
Nigeria, a federation of somewhat autonomous states, has 36 states of which 12 predominantly Muslim states have declared Sharia law since 2000.
Under the controversial Islamic Shariah criminal codes, sex outside wedlock is considered adultery if one of the partners is or has ever been married. If neither partner was ever married, then sex outside wedlock is condemned as "fornication," a crime punishable by whipping.
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The two recent sentences, passed down in Nigeria's Bauchi state in September and early October, are the first of their kind in over a year in the predominantly Muslim north.
In the most recent case, Hajara Ibrahim from Bauchi state, central eastern Nigeria, was sentenced Oct. 5, confessing to have had a physical relationship with a man by the name of Dauda Sani, whom she claims had promised to marry her.
Sani, however, denied the claim and since Ibrahim, 18, did not have four male witnesses to support her contentions, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Abubakar Bello, the presiding judge at the court in Lere, Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area (LGA), deemed Ibrahim to be a divorcee and, as a consequence, found her guilty of adultery. This carries the mandatory sentence of death by stoning. Judge Bello added, however, that the sentence was subject to the approval of the Governor of Bauchi.
Ibrahim was released into the custody of her family pending the birth of her child. Her family appealed against the sentence at a higher Shari
