Amina Lawal won't be stoned
2003-09-25 12:42
Katsina, Nigeria - An Islamic court in this northern Nigerian city on Thursday acquitted single mother Amina Lawal, who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
In a split verdict, a panel of five judges at the Sharia Appeal Court found in favour of the 31-year-old mother of four at her second bid to get the sentence lifted.
But the dispute over northern Nigeria's reintroduction of Shari'ah law will not disappear with the acquittal of its most famous defendant.
Since the end of military rule in the west African state in 1999, a dozen mainly-Muslim states have brought back elements of Shari'ah into their penal codes, a move which has increased tensions between Muslim and Christian communities.
Obasanjo, a Christian wary of offending Muslims who make up half of Nigeria's 126-million-strong population, stood by as the states brought back stoning for sex crimes and hand-chopping for thieves.
When Lawal and at least two more divorcees were condemned for bearing children out of wedlock, and their sentences made international headlines, his response was simply to promise they would be cleared on appeal.
But within Nigeria, Christian groups and rights activists are furious that he has not used the option given him by Nigeria's 1999 constitution to challenge a law code they believe violates fundamental freedoms.
They accuse the government of at best turning a blind eye to what they see as a creeping Islamisation of parts of Nigeria, an ethnically and religiously diverse federation.
"Our experience is that government is indirectly forcing Shari'ah on all Nigerians and infringing on the rights of non-Muslims resident in the north," said Father Emmanuel Badejo for the Roman Catholic church.
Badejo cited last month's decree in the northern state of Kano that schoolgirls should wear Muslim headscarves.
"In Kano, young schoolgirls are forced to wear the hijab, even if it is against their wish. No Nigerian should be made to feel cheated or discriminated against," he said.
It is not clear whether schools are enforcing the dress code on Christian girls.