By Michael Peel in Katsina
Published: September 25 2003 9:10 | Last Updated: September 25 2003 9:10
(from http://www.ft.com)
Human rights campaigners were preparing to picket a northern Nigerian Islamic court ahead of its ruling on the appeal of a young woman sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex outside marriage.
The case of Amina Lawal, the most high-profile of a series of stonings ordered in Nigeria under Muslim Sharia law, could be the subject of a potentially explosive test in the federal courts if Thursday's appeal verdict in Katsina confirms the earlier sentence.
The sentence, imposed under a harsh version of Sharia introduced in a dozen northern states over the past four years, has generated an international outcry and has raised questions about the country's attempts to resolve long-standing religious tensions and establish democratic rule.
"If the sentence is confirmed, there are going to be protests," said Shehu Sani, president of Civil Rights Congress, a northern Nigerian human rights group.
"It's our belief that she's treated that way because she doesn't come from the elite club - she comes from a very poor background."
Mr Sani, a respected campaigner who was jailed under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, said more than 50 human rights activists planned to come to Katsina and lead a peaceful street protest if the appeal was denied.
Ms Lawal, who was originally sentenced in March last year and lost an appeal in a lower Sharia court in August of the same year, is contesting the judgment over a number of alleged irregularities including lack of access to proper legal representation and lack of understanding of the consequences of confessing.
The international focus on the appeal was highlighted last week as hundreds of South African women protested outside the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, the capital, while hundreds more demonstrated at the parliament in Cape Town.
Nigeria has come under diplomatic pressure from the US and Europe over the imposition of punishments such as stoning for adultery and amputation for stealing, which have been added to Sharia civil laws long codified in northern Nigeria.
The imposition of the new Sharia punishments since the return of civilian rule in 1999 is widely seen as part of a power struggle between the politically powerful northern state governors and the federal government, which has yet to challenge the constitutionality of the law changes in the courts.
The renewed emphasis on law and order has proved an effective way of appealing to many Muslims in the impoverished north, although even supporters of the expansion of Sharia admit powerful members of society are committing the same crimes for which poor people are being punished.
Published: September 25 2003 9:10 | Last Updated: September 25 2003 9:10
(from http://www.ft.com)
Human rights campaigners were preparing to picket a northern Nigerian Islamic court ahead of its ruling on the appeal of a young woman sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex outside marriage.
The case of Amina Lawal, the most high-profile of a series of stonings ordered in Nigeria under Muslim Sharia law, could be the subject of a potentially explosive test in the federal courts if Thursday's appeal verdict in Katsina confirms the earlier sentence.
The sentence, imposed under a harsh version of Sharia introduced in a dozen northern states over the past four years, has generated an international outcry and has raised questions about the country's attempts to resolve long-standing religious tensions and establish democratic rule.
"If the sentence is confirmed, there are going to be protests," said Shehu Sani, president of Civil Rights Congress, a northern Nigerian human rights group.
"It's our belief that she's treated that way because she doesn't come from the elite club - she comes from a very poor background."
Mr Sani, a respected campaigner who was jailed under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, said more than 50 human rights activists planned to come to Katsina and lead a peaceful street protest if the appeal was denied.
Ms Lawal, who was originally sentenced in March last year and lost an appeal in a lower Sharia court in August of the same year, is contesting the judgment over a number of alleged irregularities including lack of access to proper legal representation and lack of understanding of the consequences of confessing.
The international focus on the appeal was highlighted last week as hundreds of South African women protested outside the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, the capital, while hundreds more demonstrated at the parliament in Cape Town.
Nigeria has come under diplomatic pressure from the US and Europe over the imposition of punishments such as stoning for adultery and amputation for stealing, which have been added to Sharia civil laws long codified in northern Nigeria.
The imposition of the new Sharia punishments since the return of civilian rule in 1999 is widely seen as part of a power struggle between the politically powerful northern state governors and the federal government, which has yet to challenge the constitutionality of the law changes in the courts.
The renewed emphasis on law and order has proved an effective way of appealing to many Muslims in the impoverished north, although even supporters of the expansion of Sharia admit powerful members of society are committing the same crimes for which poor people are being punished.
