Nigerian woman to be stoned

Dave

I read this in work today

A NIGERIAN woman was led from an Islamic court in tears yesterday after judges dismissed her appeal against death by stoning for bearing a child out of wedlock.


If her conviction and sentence are not overturned on appeal to a higher court, she will be buried up to her waist and stoned to death.


The courtroom in Funtua, in Nigeria's northern state of Katsina, reverberated with cries of Allahu akbar (God is greatest) after Judge Aliyu Abdullani ordered that Amina Lawal (31) be stoned to death after her eight-month-old daughter, Wasila, has been weaned, which could be when she is two.


He spoke on behalf of a panel of judges as Ms Lawal cradled the child in her arms.


Ms Lawal, a divorcee who says that she was misled by the father of the child, could be the first woman to be executed for adultery since a dozen states in Nigeria's predominately Muslim north began adopting the Sharia system more than two years ago.


The judgment was a sharp reversal for the federal government, which chose the case to challenge Sharia's introduction.


Ms Lawal told the authorities the father of Wasila, her third child, was Yahaya Mahmud, her boyfriend of 11 months, who she said had seduced her with an offer of marriage.


Mr Mahmud admitted being Ms Lawal's boyfriend, but swore on the Koran that he was not the father. He was discharged.


Ms Lawal was convicted on the basis of her confession.


This mirrored Nigeria's previous stoning case, that of Safiya Husseini (35), who was later acquitted on a legal technicality.


Under Sharia's rules of proof, witnesses are required to convict a man of adultery, while a woman may be condemned for falling pregnant.


Clara Obazele, a spokeswoman for Women's Affairs Minister Aisha Ismail, said: "A woman can not be pregnant without a man, so where is that man? He deserves similar punishment."


The verdict provoked protests from Ms Lawal's lawyers and human rights activists who have backed her case as part of a campaign against the "injustices and excesses" of Sharia.


The verdict also shocked her supporters, including Ms Obazele. The government has clashed with the northern states over Sharia, but has yet to take concrete steps to ban it.


Aliyu Musa Yawuri, Ms Lawal's lawyer, said her offence was committed before the new law came into effect, and that she would appeal.


Ms Lawal was convicted of the Islamic crime of zina, or adultery, and sentenced to death in March, but a regional appeals court gave her a two-year reprieve in June, allowing her to wean her child before the death sentence was carried out.


(The Times, London)



Michael Dynes

I was shocked to read that actions like this were still going on.

Rabies

things are just as bad in India or maybe it was Pakistan.

a few weeks ago a young boy commited a small crime and as punishement his older sister was gang raped.
this punishment was ordered by the local town council.
i think some may have been involved in the rape also.

i sure there are more acts like these carried out daily or weekly in countries like this but it rarely gets leaked to the media.

Corega

Surely they can take dna tests from the supposed father and find out if what she's saying is true, either way that's gonna cause a political uproar, one would hope anyway. And these are the very people we send aid to.

seamus

Religion: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.


When I make enough money, I'm going to buy a small island with no official religion, and liberal drug laws. You're all very welcome to join me.

Fidelis

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to the story, but what's shocking you? The fact that she's being stoned to death or that she's being executed for such a petty 'crime'?

These atrocious acts occur frequently throughtout the world. I believe Sudan, Saudi Arabia & Iran employ the methods of beheading & stoning. These kinds of stories are rarely reported, or if they are, it's in a 4 line margin story in the Irish Times. It's a sick world in which we live.

Kali

must fight urge to post rubbish on humanities board... must quell monty python quotes... pah whats the use..

"no-one i repeat no-one is to stone anyone until i blow this whistle, even, and i want to make this perfectly clear, even if they do say jehovah."

bombidol

Words cant describe my anger when i hear of things like this, but yet there is always someone that says "Its their Culture" So what, Its Wrong, thats all that matters.

Venom

The people who carry on this sort of practice are nothing more than fúcking savages.I wouldnt even call them animal's as that would be a compliment to them.

Im not even going to justify there culture of society by even debating this sort of ****. Isint it just great to see religion screwing over people again.


Kali - take your lame assed joke's to the Humour board as it dosent belong in this tread.

The Sweeper

Clara Obazele, a spokeswoman for Women's Affairs Minister Aisha Ismail, said: "A woman can not be pregnant without a man, so where is that man? He deserves similar punishment."

...as opposed to saying "a system that punishes a carbon-based life form for bearing offspring as part of a reproductive process because of some antiquated set of ridiculous morals is fúcked up", she says "lets stone the man too".

Seriously, I can't believe that all the spokesperson for Women's Affairs can come out with is 'he deserves similar punishment'. Meaning what, that the soon-to-be-stoned woman "deserved" her stoning sentence?

*boggle*

amp

Kali gets a yellow card for attempting to be funny. That said, the Life of Brian is a satirical look at religion and basically how stupid it can be.

Hmmmm....

/me scratches chin sagely

Yellow card withdrawn from Kali and transferred to Venom for being too serious.

Anybody else who goes off-topic will be chopped in twain, and have their lands cursed with locusts and famine.

Venom

Amp I just see jokes about a woman who WILL probley be stoned to death over breaking a stupid backwards law,to be in very bad taste.

But thank you for the clarification on the humour that is accepatable in treads dealing with serious topics on this board.

I cant wait for the next racism tread,when I can bring up all the great joke's that can be found on the KKK's various websites.
Im just off to post in the am I black enough tread.Iv various great gag's about concentration camp's,50'000 Jews and a zippo firelighter.

Aspro

Amp I just see jokes about a woman who WILL probley be stoned to death over breaking a stupid backwards law, to be in very bad taste.

As opposed to the classification of Special Olympics participants as "retards"......???

Double standards?

:rolleyes:

Venom

Some people find my sig funny and some people dont.Deal with it or use the ignore option.

Its funny how, when accusing me of double standards you mention my sig but say nothing about someone else cracking a joke in a tread about women getting stoned to death?

I guess you would only be offended if the woman in question who is going to be stoned was mentaly handicapped!

amp

Originally posted by Venom
Amp I just see jokes about a woman who WILL probley be stoned to death over breaking a stupid backwards law,to be in very bad taste.

But thank you for the clarification on the humour that is accepatable in treads dealing with serious topics on this board.

I cant wait for the next racism tread,when I can bring up all the great joke's that can be found on the KKK's various websites.
Im just off to post in the am I black enough tread.Iv various great gag's about concentration camp's,50'000 Jews and a zippo firelighter.

Ok further clarity required. The Life of Brian laughs at the stupidity of religion, not the victims of religion. The very person instigating the stoning (John Cleese I think) actually ends up getting stoned.

The jokes you mention attack people because of their race/religion etc.

To summarise, satire attacking stupidity is allowed, blatant racial abuse is not.

Now shut up and get back on topic. Any further off-topic crap in this thread will be deleted.

bonkey

Originally posted by Venom
Some people find my sig funny and some people dont.Deal with it or use the ignore option.

Given that you classed his comment as "lame assed jokes", I take it you class the humour your sig in the same way? In which case, take it to Humour where it belongs as well.

If not, then stop expecting others to behave in a manner you wont abide by yourself.

Getting back on the topic (cause I'm scared of amp)...yes it is a tragedy.

What is a bigger tragedy is the selective reporting when it comes to such atrocities. This is the second or third such case reported in the last year, and I find it hard to believe that such events are so rare - especially when we get told by the medai that these types of atrocities are relatively commonplace when it comes time to attack a despot or his regime.

The cynic in me is wondering what other agenda is being served by publishing this story now.

jc

Fidelis

Originally posted by bonkey
The cynic in me is wondering what other agenda is being served by publishing this story now

Good lateral thinking, bonkey. Bush might invade on humanitarian grounds and acquire some more oil

smiles

Originally posted by seamus
Religion: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.

Religion is an excuse to cause problems.


Anyway, yeah it's a pretty crazy world out there.

<< Fio >>

Turnip

Originally posted by Venom
The people who carry on this sort of practice are nothing more than fúcking savages.I wouldnt even call them animal's as that would be a compliment to them.

Are the citizens of american states which have the death penalty savages too?

Venom

If not, then stop expecting others to behave in a manner you wont abide by yourself.

Kali made a comment in a tread that I considered to be in poor taste.My sig is not a comment and I fail to see how my condeming the people behind the stoning can be viewed in poor taste.

Shinji

I think the primary reason that this story is being widely reported is because it's an example of a state which was once civilised and modern slipping into the kind of middle-ages barbarism that hardline Islam promotes. Nigeria hasn't always been like this - at one point the country was the gem of West Africa.

It seems that much of Africa is going from bad to worse, and Islam really doesn't seem to be helping at all. It's not much of a step up to Sharia Law from Tribal Law...

Oh, and as to people who say "it's their culture" - and I've heard a few of those - sorry, their culture sucks and ours is better. All people are equal in terms of DNA and basic intelligence etc, but some people are raised in cultures which are just not as good as other ones at a basic level. Any culture which places such low value on human life or advocates such cruelty is a crap culture and does not, IMO, have a moral right to exist. As members of a more enlightened culture and advanced I would see it as our duty to do whatever we sensibly can to eliminate such a culture and replace it with a better one - be that our own, or an amalgamation of cultures which suits the people and the region.

Shinji

Are the citizens of american states which have the death penalty savages too?

Have you BEEN to Texas? You wouldn't be asking that question...

Venom

Are the citizens of american states which have the death penalty savages too?

Not only do they have mob's outside prision's when someone is going to be executed, but some states are trying to bring in pay per view for the executions.

so I would consider American's to be savages and have a backward legal system.

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by Shinji
I think the primary reason that this story is being widely reported is because it's an example of a state which was once civilised and modern slipping into the kind of middle-ages barbarism that hardline Islam promotes. Nigeria hasn't always been like this - at one point the country was the gem of West Africa.

Whaaaat? When??

In the 1960s, when the secessionist state of Biafra was deliberately starved into submission by the Federal authorities, causing the deaths of thousands of civilians?

In the hey day of the oil business in the 1980s when the government was so corrupt that it was cheaper for international oil companies to arrange to have their gear stolen at the airport by organised criminals and then bought back on the black market than it was to go through official channels?

Or in the 1990s when that poet (can't remember his name) was executed on trumped up charges because of his campaigning on behalf of a tribe that was being moved off its land to accomodate oil exploration?


Apart from all that, I don't know much about Nigeria. I'd be most interested to hear about when it was an African gem. Seems to me like it has suffered more than most from divide and rule colonialism.

As for how this story got up the news agenda. Perhaps it's part of a general softening up of Western opinion against Muslims to prepare us for an onslaught on Islam in general. Let's stay well out of it.

some people are raised in cultures which are just not as good as other ones at a basic level. Any culture which places such low value on human life or advocates such cruelty is a crap culture and does not, IMO, have a moral right to exist. As members of a more enlightened culture and advanced I would see it as our duty to do whatever we sensibly can to eliminate such a culture and replace it with a better one

So you'll be joining up then. Good luck!

Turnip

Originally posted by Venom


Not only do they have mob's outside prision's when someone is going to be executed, but some states are trying to bring in pay per view for the executions.

so I would consider American's to be savages and have a backward legal system.

Well as long as there's some consistency.

Clintons Cat

The Reason this case is receiving world wide press attention as opposed to say a similar case in Saudi Arabia,is that the Reintroduction of Sharia Law in Nigeria is a recent phenomenum.
The death penalty under sharia law (as opposed to military law) was only reintroduced in jan 2002.This is the first instance of a woman being stoned for sexual relations outside wedlock.
To me it is a reminder of the Dangers posed by unhindered Saudi attempts at Social Engineering.As has been mentioned before in the "cultural destruction of bosnian mosques" thread the saudis are the principle benefactors of Islamic Charities and take a pro active stance to the exportation of the saudi based variant of Islam Wahabism
,you might remember their last attempt at wholesale Saudi Social engineering in such afganistani films as "hi i'm gay,topple that wall on me" and "oops my burkas to short,beat me with sticks ohh religious police man for exposing my solitious ankle in an attempt to tempt you from the path of allah"and "oh just shoot me and throw me down a well and throw grenades on top,i am sure i've done something wrong".

mike65

A practical aspect of this is the fact the Irish government are sending home a Nigerian woman with child born out of wedlock
as she's on a dodgy passport, should the government just say
off you go and good luck or allow her to stay bearing in mind the
potential consequences.

Luckily I made that up, she is Nigerian but came here via Cyprus and so was sent back there, and they are taking a benign view in the circumstances.

Would the Justice minister here I wonder ?

Mike.