Shari'ah court bans online chat
2010-03-30 17:13
Kano - An Islamic Shari'ah court in northern Nigeria on Tuesday permanently banned a local rights group from discussing the country's first amputation for theft on the internet, an activist said.
The same court had last week issued an interim order cutting off all online chats on the amputation of Buba Bello Jangebe's wrist in 2000 for the theft of a cow.
"The Magajin Gari Shari'ah court has made its ruling banning Civil Rights Congress (CRC) permanently from discussing the amputation of Buba Bello Jangebe," Shehu Sani, leader of the CRC told AFP.
"By this ruling it has become illegal for us to continue with the discussion on the 10th year anniversary of the amputation," he said.
The court last week ordered CRC to suspend its Twitter and Facebook online debates on the amputation, which was carried out in 2000.
Jangebe was the first person to have had his right wrist cut on the orders of a Shari'ah court in Zamfara State, a year after 12 northern Nigerian states adopted the strict Islamic penal code.
The ruling arose from a suit filed on March 19 by the Association of Muslim Brotherhood of Nigeria, a pro-Shari'ah group based in the northern political capital of Kaduna.
The Muslim group, whose group packed the courtroom on Tuesday, argued that internet forums would be used as "a mockery of the Shari'ah system as negative issues will be discussed".
Lawyers for both sides argued the case for around 90 minutes before the judge Malam Lawal read out a 10-minute judgement. The ruling is the first of its kind in Nigeria.