Thieves might keep their hands
2005-05-13 20:40
Zaria - A Nigerian Islamic court freed six young men on bail and set a date for their appeal on Friday, 22 months after they were convicted of petty theft and sentenced to have their right hands lopped off.
The so-called "Zaria Six" had languished in a jail for almost two years since they became among the first suspects swept up in a wave of enthusiasm for the reintroduction of Islamic Sharia law.
Implementation of the law across northern Nigeria had been controversial and patchy, and with very few amputation sentences and no stoning actually carried out many convicts had been abandoned in jail without news of their fate.
But, in Zaria a local human rights pressure group took up the case and succeeded in launching appeal proceedings.
On Friday, this bore fruit when Judge Shehu Ibrahim Umar freed them and set dates next week for their appeal.
Anxiety of losing a hand
A 33-year-old Aminu Haruna as the convicts expressed delight said: "I have lived these two years in constant fear and anxiety of losing a wrist, but this bail has infused in me the hope that I will live to use my two hands again."
The convicted motorcycle thief said: "Imagine the torment of going to bed in the night with the feeling that you could be summoned in the morning and have your hand chopped off.
"This has been the life we have lived for two years."
The six men were now aged between 22 and 33. They were convicted of theft in July and September 2003 by Tudunwada upper sharia court in Zaria and had been kept in custody ever since.
Mustapha Hamza, Aminu Shehu and Bashir Ahmad - convicted of stealing food, two bags of maize and some cloth respectively - were due to appeal on May 19.
Triumph of justice
Ahmad Usman and Rabi'u Turunku, who were convicted of stealing a cow, were due to be back in court on May 26
The director of the Civil Rights Congress, which campaigns for the men, Shehu Sani, said: "This is a triumph of justice and we are happy with the outcome."
He said: "This victory is a challenge to rights activists to be more committed to protecting the rights of the down-trodden when the government uses the machinery of state to oppress them."
"We are not in any form against the application of Sharia law ... but we are trying to ensure that legal processes and procedures are properly followed to ensure justice to all and not selective justice against the less privileged."
About half of Nigeria's population, nearly 65 million people were Muslims and since 1999, a dozen northern states had attempted to reintroduce Sharia law for the first time since the end of British colonial rule.
- SAPA