A Northern Nigerian Islamic Court sentenced a single mother, Amina Lawal, to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock. Lawal is the second Nigerian woman condemned to death by stoning for engaging in sex outside of marriage. The first woman, Safiya Hussaini had her sentence overturned in March on her first appeal, after giving birth to a child outside of marriage. In October of 2001, Lawal was found guilty of sex out of wedlock in. After a lower Islamic court in the Katsina state rejected Lawal's appeal to the death by stoning sentence. Lawal's lawyers are planning to appeal her case to a higher Islamic court, possibly the Supreme Court. According to AP, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Fatima Usman, were also sentenced to death by an Islamic Court for committing adultery. They are currently awaiting an appeal.
While unmarried, Amina became pregna
nt. Local villagers had her arrested. She was brought before a Regional Court where she was charged with the crime of adultery. In comparison to Safiya, Amina had no legal representation and there are serious questions about whether the nature of the charges was adequately explained to her. Under the Katsina regional law, admitting to having a baby amounts to a confession to the crime of adultery. As in the case of Safiya Hussaini, the man identified as Amina's partner - the alleged father of her baby daughter - was released. The court said there was insufficient evidence against him. For him to be convicted, he must either confess, or 4 other men must testify that they witnessed the adultery.
Onyia went on to say that the Nigerian government would not force the Islamic court systems to change their laws, but instead the cases would be ove
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