NIGERIA: Europe plea on Nigeria stoning

07/03/02

Europe's top human rights body has urged Nigeria not to allow the stoning to death of a woman convicted of having a child out of wedlock, calling the penalty "barbaric."

 In an appeal on the eve of Friday's International Women's Day, Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer the plight of Safiya Hussaini Tangar-Tudu illustrates how women suffer abuses in many countries.

 She was convicted by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria in October and sentenced to be stoned to death while buried up to her waist in sand.

 Capital punishment under Islamic law was introduced in Nigeria in 2000.

 "Every day, worldwide, women face harsh treatment and discrimination because of their sex," Schwimmer said in a statement.

 "This sad case proves that pressure must be constantly maintained in order to bring equal rights to the world."

 Schwimmer appealed to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to commute her death sentence.

 He also urged his European colleagues to join him in the fight for women's rights in all parts of the world.

 "International organisations, governments and religious authorities must do everything in their power to change both laws and attitudes and to bring an end to such barbaric practices," he added.

 The 43-member Council of Europe is the continent's premier human rights watchdog and the guardian of the 1952 European Convention of Human Rights, which bans the death penalty.

 Hussaini's execution was postponed last Saturday after Obasanjo intervened amid pressure from the international community.

 In a letter to the Nigerian leader last week, European Parliament member John Corrie said international human rights standards should be respected by all countries and that the views of the international community must not be underestimated.

 Hussaini's case was also discussed at a women's rights conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

 "The problem of violence against women constitutes the main issue for discussion to celebrate International Women's Day," said Anna Karamanou, chairwoman of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities.