Published: August 21, 2002
Death
by Stoning Upheld in the Case
of Nigerian Woman Amina Lawal
Amnesty International to Mobilize Members
(AFRICANAMERICAN NEWSWIRE)(New York) --Amnesty International is gravely concerned at yesterday's decision by a Shari'ah court of appeals in Funtua, Katsina State, Nigeria, to uphold the sentence of death by stoning imposed on Amina Lawal, a young Nigerian woman accused of giving birth to a child out of wedlock. Lawal and her lawyer have been granted 30days to appeal the decision. Amnesty International is urging its members and the public at large to participate in planned actions directed to the US House of Representatives and to Nigeria's secular government in Abuja, which in the past has deemed the Shari'ah penal code unconstitutional.
Lawal was originally sentenced to death on March 22, 2002, after confessing to sexual relations with a man other than her husband (adultery is a crime punishable by death under Quranic-based Shari'ah law currently applicable to Nigeria's majority Muslim northern states). While charges against the alleged father of the child have been dropped, the religious court of appeals yesterday stood firm on Lawal's death sentence despite international protests.
"This judgment is incompatible with the Nigerian constitution and also with Nigeria's legal obligations under international human rights law and the African Charter for Human and People Rights," Amnesty International said, noting that the practice of stoning to death is a cruel form of torture prohibited by both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture. Amnesty International is strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances on the grounds that it represents the ultimate inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life.
The organization is calling on members and other concerned individuals to write to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Minister of Justice Kanu Godwin Agabi to push for the abolition of the death penalty and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment in all Nigerian states. Amnesty International USA encourages its members to write their Representative in Congress to urge her or him to co-sponsor H. Con. Res. 351, a resolution passed in the House International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee that condemns the practice of execution by stoning as a gross human rights violation. (Seehttp://www.amnestyusa.org/women/act.html)
Amnesty International is asking the Nigerian government to ensure that Amina Lawal enjoys her full rights of appeal in accordance with Nigeria's obligations under international human rights law, including article 6 (2) of the ICCPR, and the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.
"Amina Lawal should be allowed to fully enjoy her rights of appeal to a higher, impartial, independent tribunal which follows the due process of law. This sentence must not be carried out," the organization said.
Background
The Nigerian constitution guarantees the right to life and to freedom
from torture and cruel inhuman and degrading punishments and the right
to fair trial. Nigeria is also a state party to the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The ICCPR
protects the right to life, and, in countries which have not abolished
the death penalty, assures that sentences of death maybe imposed only
for the most serious crimes. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights
has interpreted the ICCPR to be limited to "intentional crimes with
lethal or extremely grave consequences." The death penalty is "not
to be imposed for non-violent acts such as… sexual relations between
consenting adults." (Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/77,
paragraph4cc)
Although the case of Amina Lawal does not fit within the strict definition of "most serious crimes," pregnancy outside of marriage constitutes sufficient evidence to convict a Muslim woman of adultery under Shari'ah law, adopted by Katsina State in August of 2000.
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