Help Save Amina Lawal

AMNESIAN

To have an Amnesty International letter sent in your name appealing to Nigerian authorities for this young woman's life, follow the link from:

http://www.oprah.com

AMINA LAWAL, a 30 year-old Muslim woman, was sentenced on Friday 22 March 2002 to stoning to death by a Shari'ah court at Bakori in Katsina State in northern Nigeria. Amina allegedly confessed to having had a child while divorced. Pregnancy outside of marriage constitutes sufficient evidence for a woman to be convicted of adultery according to the new Shari'ah-based penal code for Muslims, introduced in Katsina State. The man named as the father of her baby girl reportedly denied having sex with her and his confession was enough for the charges against him to be discontinued. Amina did not have a lawyer during her first trial, when the judgement was passed. But she has now filed an appeal against her sentence with the help of a lawyer hired by a pool of Nigerian human rights and women's rights organisations.

The hearing of the appeal by the Shari'ah Court of Appeal of Funtua, Katsina State, was set for May 27, 2002 but adjourned twice, after her lawyer argued for an early hearing to take place instead of having the hearing postponed until next year as previously proposed by the court. Amina Lawal is still weaning her baby. Such a long adjournment of the case would have not served any useful purpose and would have deepened the climate of uncertainty created by the whole process. The terms of the bail have also been reviewed. Under these new terms for bail agreed by the court, Amina Lawal will no longer be reporting fortnightly to them. The only condition, however, is that Amina Lawal had to have a 'surety'.

On 8 July 2002, Amina Lawal made the submission of her appeal before the Shari'ah Court or Appeal of Funtua. The hearing of her appeal resumed on 5 August 2002 and the prosecutor presented his case and urged the court to maintain the sentence, death by stoning, passed by the Shari'ah court of Bakori. On August 19, Aminas appeal was denied. She now has thirty days to make another appeal to the Supreme court in Abuja, the nations capital.

Amnesty International news release on this case

RELATED ACTION: Help stop stonings in Nigeria

To have an Amnesty International letter sent in your name appealing to Nigerian authorities for this young woman's life, follow the link from:

http://www.oprah.com

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waiting

Thanks for the information on such an outrageous situation. Let the father go......kill the mother.....and who takes care of her child?

I followed the links - was amazingly simple to do.

waiting

Kenneson

Thank you for the link. I just sent my letter. Easy to do.

BeautifulGarbage

Thank you Amnesian for posting this information and providing the link. Please, for those that read this thread, it's VERY easy to do.

In the US, a DNA test would easily confirm whether this man is the father of this child. It makes me wonder how many MEN have been stoned to death for adultery and fornication. My hunch is that the number is quite low, if there has been any at all.

Andee

onacruse

Just plain DISGUSTING.

Thanks for the link, Amnesian. I sent my letter.

Craig

SpannerintheWorks

I had no idea that such BARBARIC practices still took place!

JT

we saw this program on Oprah yesterday the show was excellent and they asked all to help as well

thanks for the info

women are always getting the shaft- joke!!!!!!!!!!

BeautifulGarbage

BTTT

patio34

Thanks Amnesian for drawing our attention to that. I just sent my letter on her behalf. It makes it so easy to do. I hope it has an positive influence.

Pat

blondie

Thanks so much for posting this, Amnesian. I was watching Friday's show just today. I hope more people have sent letters than have posted here. Did I hear right in the news that 4 men have to have witnesses their sexual act in order for the father to be put to death? What happened to DNA tests?

Blondie

Help Save Amina Lawal

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