Citation: the NY Times at
Court Overturns Stoning Sentence of Woman in Nigeria
KATSINA, Nigeria, Sept. 25 — An appeals court today overturned the conviction of the Nigerian peasant woman whose sentencing to death by stoning had incited international condemnation and focused attention on Islamic law here.
Amina Lawal, 32, had been convicted of adultery for having had a child out of wedlock, two years after she divorced her husband. She would have been the first woman stoned to death since 1999 when 12 states in the predominantly Muslim north began adopting strict Islamic law, or Shariah.
Four of five judges on the Shariah court of appeals in the northern state of Katsina voted to throw out the case, saying that the lower court failed to follow rules of procedure.
Among several findings, the judges said that Ms. Lawal, who had admitted to a lower court of having had a relationship with the man who fathered her child, should have been allowed to retract her initial confession because she had not properly understood the charges against her.
The court also said the Shariah police had improperly interrogated and arrested Ms. Lawal.
Finally, the court cited the so-called sleeping embryo theory in Islamic scholarship that says an infant can be in gestation for up to five years, in effect saying that Ms. Lawal could have conceived her child when she was still married.
Ms. Lawal has identified her alleged sexual partner, Yahaya Mohammed, and said he promised to marry her. Mr. Mohammed, who also faced stoning, denied any responsibility and was acquitted for lack of evidence. To prove his guilt under Islamic law would have required testimonies of four people who witnessed the couple having sex.
After the appellate ruling today in favor of Ms. Lawal, one of her attorneys, Hauwa Ibrahim, said: "That is a victory. She is free. She is discharged."
The lawyer added: "It's a victory for justice. It's a victory for the law. It's a victory for freedom."
Five Nigerians, including Ms. Lawal, have been sentenced under Islamic law to death by stoning. Three have had their convictions overturned.
Ms. Lawal is the second Nigerian woman to be condemned to death under Islamic law for having sex out of wedlock. The first, Safiya Hussaini, had her sentence overturned on appeal in March.
Catherine Mabille, a representative of Avocats Sans Frontieres, a French lawyers group that was advising Ms. Lawal's defense team, said: "The struggle is not over. It's the beginning of the struggle. We have to really deal with Shariah and find arguments so we can win."
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is technically a secular republic, but Shariah has swept through the largely Muslim north during the last three years and has been introduced in a dozen northern states, setting off deadly clashes between Christians and Muslims.
Shariah governs family law in a wide range of countries, but it has been applied to criminal offenses only in a handful of nations, like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan under Taliban rule. In Nigeria, which has a population of 130 million people, the code does not apply to Christians.
Opponents of Shariah law in Nigeria say northern Muslim politicians have supported its spread in an effort to curry votes. Proponents insist that it is more just and swift than the common law that British colonial rulers imposed.
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