Islamic court upholds Nigerian stoning verdict - Woman convicted for bearing out-of-wedlock child

Agence France-Presse | August 19, 2002

[HAL9000]

FUNTUA, Nigeria (AFP) - A Nigerian Islamic court threw out an appeal by a young woman sentenced to be stoned to death for bearing a child out of wedlock and ordered her to be executed once her child is weaned.

The judgement was a slap in the face for a coalition of lawyers, activists and federal officials who had chosen the case to challenge the reintroduction of the strict Islamic legal code, or Sharia in the north of the country.

Amina Lawal's legal team announced an immediate appeal Monday. If they fail, their 30-year-old client could become the first Nigerian to be stoned to death since 12 northern states reintroduced Sharia.

Her team of Abuja-based lawyers and rights campaigners had argued that her conviction was unfair, that her confession had been retracted and that she had never understood the case against her.

But a four-judge panel meeting at the upper Sharia court in Funtua, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Abuja, dismissed their arguments.

"Based on proofs derived through our investigations and through Islamic books I, Aliyu Abdullahi, and my three assistants hereby uphold the judgement passed by Bakori Sharia court," the lead judge said.

"We uphold your conviction of death by stoning as prescribed by the Sharia. This judgement will be carried out as soon as your baby is weaned," he told Lawal, who sat before the bench cradling her eight-month-old daughter.

A cry of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) resounded around the packed courtroom as Lawal, a shy and slight village housewife dressed in a bright red dress and deep purple open-faced veil, burst into tears.

At an earlier hearing, Lawal had told reporters she was confident that she would be cleared now that she had high-powered lawyers behind her. At her first trial in January she had no representation.

The verdict also shocked her supporters, including a representative of the Nigerian federal government, which has clashed with the northern states over Sharia but has yet to take concrete steps to ban it.

"I feel bad, I'm not happy at all. We thought they were going to discharge her," said Clara Obazele, a spokeswoman for women's affairs minister Aisha Ismail. "We're going to appeal the judgement."

Lawal's defence lawyer Aliyu Musa Yawuri said: "We're not satisfied with this decision, and we're going to appeal."

Lawal said nothing as she and baby Wasila were whisked away by defence lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim, a senior member of the Nigerian bar council.

Lawal, a divorcee, gave birth in January and was denounced by police to the Sharia court in Bakori.

She 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.

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 based on her confession.

This mirrored Nigeria's previous stoning case, that of 35-year-old Safiya Husseini.

Under Sharia's strict rules of proof, witnesses are required to convict a man of adultery, while a woman may be condemned for falling pregnant.

In Husseini's case earlier this year the defence managed to get her acquitted on a series of technicalities, but the tactic did not work twice.

© 2002 AFP

[mhking]

And where's the freakin' United Nations with a case like this? Where's the race warlords? Where's the poverty pimps? Huh? When I ask that question, all I hear is crickets in response...

Yet anything that's done here, and they're up in arms. Talk about freakin' opportunists...

[Made In The USA]

Mr. Sharpton, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Farrakhan... where's the protest of this one?

[Nyralthotep]

A cry of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) resounded around the packed courtroom as Lawal, a shy and slight village housewife dressed in a bright red dress and deep purple open-faced veil, burst into tears.

Ahhh Islam, the religion of peace......

This kind of activity just further convinces me that nothing good can or ever will come of islam.

[Dialup Llama]

>The judgement was a slap in the face for a coalition of lawyers, activists and federal officials who had chosen the case to challenge the reintroduction of the strict Islamic legal code, or Sharia in the north of the country.

Sharia is not a legal code in any meaningful sense, but a system of institutionalized slavery (for non-muslims) and of barbarism.

[End Times Sentinel]

Another example of blatant media bias. In fact, this woman was sentenced to be PEACEFULLY stoned to death.

"Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (Koran 2:191)

"Fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (Koran 9:5)

"Ye are the best of peoples evolved for mankind." (Koran 3:110)

islam, the religion of peace…

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[EggsAckley]

Where are the freakin' NOW nags??

[Travis McGee]

Religion of Peace Bump.

[Gunrunner2]

How come all the multiculturalists are not dancing in the streets with joy on their lips? I mean, after all, we are supposed to CELEBRATE our differences, not impose our cultural standards. . .right. . . right. . .you mean I was lied to all these years?

[RonF]

It's my understanding that under Shar'ia, you need 4 witnesses to convict a man of rape or adultery. I wonder what they'd do with DNA evidence? Someone needs to go over there and get blood samples from this woman, her baby, and the "boyfriend".

[monday]

"Someone needs to go over there and get blood samples from this woman, her baby, and the "boyfriend"."

Why? Do you want the boyfriend to be stoned too? What someone needs to do is go over there and break the judges knee caps if they don't throw the case out.

[Orangedog]

If there is no one with a bank account to fleece, the Mullahs Jackson, Sharpton and Farrakahn want nothing to do with it.

[Van Jenerette]

...for later reading and classroom discussion.

[SarahW]

Think Christ would go along with this?

God save those people. The Devil has them by the throat.

[knighthawk]

A Nigerian Islamic court threw out an appeal by a young woman sentenced to be stoned to death for bearing a child out of wedlock and ordered her to be executed once her child is weaned.

'Islam means justice and there is quality in law for woman (NOT)'-list If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

[Squantos]

She gets stoned to death as soon as the child is weaned ? Hmmmm that lady needs to see the story about the mother who breastfed her kid even though he was 12 years old...... recently read here at FR.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone............

Stay Safe !

[OldFriend]

How dare America inflict it's values and respect for life on other culturers..........how arrogant of us.

Can anything be more pathetic than those who defend Islamic Fundamentalism?

[mikeIII]

God save those people.

Yes, but it affects more than just those people. It's "religion of Peace" that is spreading like wild fire and soon it could be a cry of "God save us"!

[xJones]

I wonder what they'd do with DNA evidence? Someone needs to go over there and get blood samples from this woman, her baby, and the "boyfriend".

Hush, Allah didn't mention DNA through his *prophet*.

MFH, I'll never forget your posts about the Muslim that was arrested for raping a young girl in Florida. He was trying to lie his way out of it "my religion would not allow to do this", but shut up when the police mentioned DNA samples from the young victim.