'Please don't hang me'
2005-11-11 09:24
Lagos - A Nigerian Islamic Sharia court on Thursday sentenced two young men to death by hanging for killing and sexually abusing a three-year old girl.
Sharia judge Ibrahim Isah Rabo of Upper Sharia court in Yankaba district in the city of Kano ordered that Aminu Iliyasu, 21, and Shu'aibu Yusuf, 28, be hanged in accordance with the strict Sharia legal system the state reintroduced five years ago.
"Based on the evidences before this court which include testimonies of four witnesses and an autopsy report which confirmed that three-year-old Zainab Abdulhamid died from suffocation and sexual abuse, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging", Rabo said.
"This judgement conforms with sections 121 and 142 of the Kano state Sharia law 2000 which provide for death by hanging for murder," Rabo said amidst shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) from the public gallery.
Outside the courtroom, about 100 riot police stood guard.
Iliyasu and Yusuf were arraigned before the court last April for the rape and murder of the girl who was their neighbour, but the rape charge was later dropped by the prosecution.
Pleading for a lighter sentence
With this ruling, the duo have become the first to be condemned to death by a Sharia court in Kano since the state began implementing the strict Sharia code.
Thirteen people have been sentenced to amputation for theft, but none has been executed in Kano.
The trial generated public interest and the government took it so seriously that the state attorney-general led the prosecution team.
After the conviction, the defendants pleaded for leniency.
"We plead with the court to show leniency and give us a lesser punishment. I prefer amputation to death penalty", Iliyasu told the court, his eyes filled with tears.
The judge gave them 30 days to appeal the sentence.
"I have done what I must do. If my clients are ready to appeal I am ready to continue with the case", defence counsel Nurudeen Ishola said.