NIGERIA: Lawyers team up against the death penalty

ABIDJAN, 15 January (IRIN) - A consortium of Nigerian lawyers opposed to
the death penalty, are representing Safiya Husseini Tungar Tudu, the
30-year-old woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, in the
northern state of Sokoto.

An appeal hearing against the sentence on Monday was adjourned until 18
March. Safiya changed an earlier claim of rape, saying the baby at the
centre of the case, was fathered by her former husband. Under Sharia
(Islamic) law this would not be considered an offence and she could be
acquitted, Nigerian media reported on Tuesday.

Monday's adjournment was to give time to prosecution lawyers to study the
new evidence presented by lead counsel, Abdulkadir Ibrahim Imam, who leads
the 11-member consortium including lawyers from human rights groups, women
NGOs, and representatives of the federal government.

Safiya was convicted by a Sharia court last year, on grounds that she
committed adultery after divorcing her husband. The man involved in the
affair, who is not bound by the same law, earlier confessed to the police
but later denied ever meeting her.

Harsh punishments under Sharia, such as death by stoning or amputation of
limbs for theft, have been introduced in many northern Nigerian states
over the past two years. Although amputations have been carried out in
Sokoto, no woman has been stoned to death.

On 8 January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the execution of a man on
the orders of a Sharia court in Katsine state, and urged the Nigerian
authorities not carry out the death sentences of such courts.

"As the first execution under Sharia in Nigeria, we fear that this may
signal a willingness on the part of the authorities to carry out further
death sentences in future," Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of
HRW's Africa Division, said.

"The death penalty is an inhuman, degrading and cruel punishment which
cannot be justified in any circumstance, however brutal the crime of which
the defendant is accused," he added.

[ENDS]

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