Ban on sharia law satire lifted

2007-10-22 22:34

Kano - An Islamic court in Nigeria on Monday lifted a ban it placed almost three weeks ago on a play written by a civil rights activist which satirises the implementation of sharia law in 12 mainly Muslim states, lawyers said.

The judge of the upper sharia court in the Tudun Wada neighbourhood of the northern city of Kaduna, Mustapha Umar, ruled that his court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by "Concerned Sharia Forum", a pro-sharia group based in Zaria, 70km north of Kaduna.

Umar issued a motion restraining playwright and activist Shehu Sani on October 3 from selling or circulating his play, Phantom Crescent and banning performances of the play.

Defence lawyer Muhammad Sanusi said: "The court has thrown out the case on the grounds that it lacks jurisdiction. With this ruling the earlier orders given by the court have no legality."

The play is a satire depicting how politicians, especially governors of the states implementing the sharia legal system, use it "as a tool for looting the public treasury and for stifling opposition", Sani told AFP.

"We have started preparations to appeal the upper sharia court ruling before the Kaduna state high court because we believe circulating the book and staging performances has the potential of causing a sectarian rift, not only in Kaduna but in many parts of the north," counsel to the plaintiff, Aliyu Ahmad Sharif, said.

Since the return of Nigeria to civil rule in 1999 a dozen predominantly Muslim states in the north have re-introduced the Islamic legal system.

- AFP