AUGUST 25, 2002:

NIGERIA: Nigeria Chief Speaks Out on Stoning

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he will weep if a 30-year-old woman sentenced to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage is killed, but added he has faith the court system will overturn her sentence.

 However, Obasanjo gave no sign he would intervene directly in the case, despite an international outcry that he prevent the execution.

 It was the 1st time the president spoke about single mother Amina Lawal since an Islamic court in the northern town of Funtua last week rejected her appeal against the stoning sentence.

 "I don't think what is going on will lead to her death," Obasanjo told reporters. "Indeed if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria."

 Governments and human rights organizations around the world have urged Obasanjo's administration to intercede in Lawal's case. The U.S. State Department has expressed concern about the case and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned Nigeria will face international outrage if the sentence is applied.

 Obasanjo has the power to commute Lawal's sentence if she loses her appeal at the Supreme Court, according to officials. But the president did not mention plans to do so in his comments Saturday.

 Nigeria's justice minister has said government lawyers will assist Lawal's legal team during her next appeal, which will test the authority of Islamic courts to hand down such sentences.

 Nigeria is deeply divided about the application of Islamic law, or Shariah, which calls for cutting off a hand to punish theft and death for adultery.

 Decisions by a dozen states in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north to adopt the strict Islamic code since 1999 sparked clashes with the region's Christian minority that killed hundreds.

 Lawal is the 2nd woman to be condemned under Islamic law for having sex out of wedlock, but she is the 1st to lose an appeal.

 Safiya Hussaini had a similar sentence overturned in March on her 1st appeal.

 Lawal was sentenced in March after giving birth to a daughter more than nine months after divorcing.

 Her conviction was upheld on the basis that she admitted having sex outside marriage. The man she identified as her baby's father denied the accusation and was acquitted for lack of evidence.

 Lawal's lawyers filed an appeal and stay of execution last week with a higher Islamic court. If that fails, they can appeal to the Supreme Court. 

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

Obasanjo Expects Judiciary to Overturn Stoning Case

August 26, 2002

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday he expected the judiciary to overturn the sentence of death by stoning passed on a 30-year-old woman for giving birth outside marriage.

 In his first public comment on the controversial sentence on Amina Lawal, which was upheld by a higher Islamic court in the northern state of Katsina last week, the president failed to give any firm indication that he would intervene against the sentence.

"I do sincerely hope that we will get through it, that Amina will not die," Obasanjo told reporters in the presidential residence in Abuja. "But if for any reason she is killed, I will weep for Amina and her family, I will weep for myself, and I will weep for Nigeria."

 Amina Lawal was first sentenced to death on adultery charges in the small town of Bakori in March, according to the dictates of the Islamic or Shari'ah legal code, after giving birth to a child out of wedlock. A man she said fathered the baby was discharged for lack of evidence.

 An Upper Shari'ah Court in the town of Funtua upheld the sentence last week. Lawal's lawyers have said they will appeal to a higher court.

 Under Nigeria's judicial system, the appeal could reach the Supreme Court if the sentence is not quashed at the state appeal level or the federal court of appeal. Even if Lawal fails to secure a reprieve through the courts, the president has the prerogative of granting her clemency.

 Obasanjo did not indicate on Saturday whether or not he would take that step if the case goes that far.

 Lawal is the second woman to be sentenced to death by stoning since about a dozen states in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria began introducing the controversial Shari'ah code in 2000.

 Safiya Husseini was sentenced to death in Sokoto State last year. But the verdict was quashed on 19 March, the same day Lawal received her sentence.