Relief turns to rage
Amina acquitted, but three other Nigerians face death by stoningSeptember 26, 2003 Edition -1
While the world celebrates the reprieve of Amina Lawal - the 31-year-old Nigerian woman saved from death by stoning - the controversial method of execution refuses to go away with news that three other Nigerians face a similar death.
Lawal, a twice-divorced mother of four, was acquitted by a Shar'iah (Islamic) Court of Appeal after being condemned for having a child out of wedlock. The case caused an international uproar, but even as relief floods through the world community there comes news that three other Nigerians - Fatima Usman, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Jibrin Babaji - have been sentenced to death by stoning.
Usman and Ibrahim's case is on appeal, but word of Babaji's sentence - for sodomy - came only moments after Lawal's reprieve. Babaji, 20, admitted to molesting three boys over the past year. He has 30 days to appeal.
The boys said they'd been lured by an offer of 50 naira (about R2). They were each sentenced to 50 lashes with a cane for accepting the money.
The Lawal case turned the global spotlight on Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state eager to rehabilitate its battered human rights reputation. Twelve mainly Muslim states have reintroduced Shar'iah law since the country's return to civilian rule in 1999, in spite of opposition from Christians who make up half of the 126-million population.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, the decision to spare Lawal's life has been met by widespread relief and celebration. In Cape Town yesterday, Democratic Alliance chairman Joe Seremane said: "The death penalty for adultery goes against any reasonable person's sense of justice, while death by stoning is a degrading human treatment."
Molantoa Molaba, spokesman for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), said the sentence had been lifted "partly because of mounting pressure on the Muslim judiciary and Nigeria".
"The acquittal is an important step in the struggle for women's liberation in Africa," Molaba said.
In London, Amnesty International welcomed the acquittal.
"The case should never have been brought to court. Nobody should be made to go through such an ordeal," said a spokesmen.
"Punishments such as stoning, flogging or amputation are cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and in complete contradiction of the Convention against Torture ratified by Nigeria two years ago." - Sapa-DPA and Sapa-AFP
