United Press
International
SUDAN:
Christian
woman to be stoned to death in Sudan
Human
Rights Watch appealed to Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir on Friday to
intervene on behalf of a young pregnant Christian woman who has been
sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
The
New York-based organization asked Bashir "to prevent this cruel and
inhuman punishment from being exercised against her." The accused is
Abok Alfa Akok, an 18-year-old Dinka tribeswoman from southern Darfur in
western Sudan.
According
to HRW spokeswoman Jemera Rone, information available about this case is
spotty. However, in its letter to Bashir, HRW stressed, "The man with
whom (the woman) allegedly had sex was not tried, because the court lacked
sufficient evidence to prosecute him."
The
trial was conducted in a criminal court -- not a religious tribunal -- in
the city of Nyala. As HRW pointed out to Sudan's soldier-president, Abok
Alfa Akok "did not have legal representation during the trial."
"The
trial was conducted in Arabic, which is not her language, and there was no
translation of the proceedings in order to ensure that she understood fully
the case against her."
Faith
O'Donnell, coordinator of the Church Alliance for a New Sudan, reminded the
Khartoum government that it had promised to change its ways after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
"We
expect them to rethink their position in this present case," she told
United Press International on Friday. She added, "We understand that
the sexual act this young woman is charged with was coerced." The case
is now on appeal.
According
to HRW, "The Sudanese government has in the past claimed that its
Shari'a (religious) laws would not be applied to Christians, but this case
shows otherwise. The sentence was based on Article 146 of Sudan's 1991
Penal Code, which is based upon the government's interpretation of the
Shari'a."
This
article, HRW went on, stipulates that adultery should be punished with:
"1.
Execution by stoning when the offender is married; 100 lashes (when) the
offender is not married."
While
reiterating its opposition to capital punishment, Human Rights Watch stated
in its letter to Bashir, "Stoning to death is additionally painful and
brutal."
Under
the Shari'a, the stones thrown during the execution should not be so large
that the offender dies after a few strikes. Neither should they be as small
as pebbles and fail to cause serious injury.
Executions
by stoning are not mentioned in the Koran, Islamic legal scholar Tarik
Abdul-Rahman wrote, but they are part of the Hadith (collections of sayings
and acts of Mohammed). As Abul-Rahman has pointed out, this punishment goes
back to the Pentateuch, or 1st 5 books of Hebrew Scripture.
In
radical Muslim countries, stoning has experienced a major comeback in
recent years. "Since the inception of the mullahs' rule, hundreds of
women of various ages have been and continued to be stoned to death
throughout Iran," the National Council of Resistance of Iran claimed.
One
recent such execution was described in vivid detail by local newspapers:
Maryam Ayoubi, a 38-year-old mother of 3, was convicted of adultery and
being her lover's accomplice in her husband's death.
The
execution occurred on July 11, 2001. According to Iranian press reports,
she was first flogged 50 times, then given a ritual bath, wrapped in a
white shroud and carried to the execution site on a stretcher.
There
she was buried up to her armpits and subsequently bombarded with rocks. Her
lover was hanged.
Human
rights activists charge that male adulterers often fare much better than
women in strict Islamic countries. In the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto,
a woman sentenced to be stoned to death is awaiting the outcome of her
appeal in her blind father's small hut.
The
only evidence against Safiyatu Huseini had been her pregnancy. The father
of her child was an older man, already twice married. She claims he had
raped her. But the same court that sentenced her acquitted him after 2
months on death row.
In
some countries, the stoning of women is a welcome popular entertainment.
When a lesbian couple was sentenced to die last year in Somalia's
autonomous region of Puntland, several hundred people "cheered as the
judge handed down death sentences on the two women," according to a
BBC report.
Islamic
legal scholar Abdul-Rahman confirmed that the Prophet Mohammed personally
prescribed death by stoning for married men and women indulging in illicit
sex.
Abdul-Rahman
added, however, that the death sentence could only be passed if some strict
criteria had been fulfilled: "The act must have been publicly
witnessed by four pious people ... The person must be sane and not under
the influence of alcohol."
Moreover,
the scholar stressed, "Nobody is allowed to spy or invade your private
space. The prophet has said that if anyone peeps into your house, you are
allowed to poke out his eye."
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