NIGERIA: Death By Stoning: EU Parliament to Hold Debate On Amina

Despite the acquittal of Safiya Hussaini by the Sokoto Sharia Court of Appeal, the European Parliament will tomorrow in Strasbourg, France hold an emergency debate on Human Rights in Nigeria since another Islamic law court at Bakori in Katsina State has yet sentenced Ms Amina Lawal, a 35-year old woman from the village of Kurami, to death by stoning.

Amina Lawal was alleged to have confessed to having a child while divorced, and the male partner she revealed was acquitted by the court for want of evidence.

 Following what a committee of the Parliament referred to as Urgency Resolution on the current human rights situation in Nigeria, the meeting, tabled by the British Mr John Corrie and Mrs Hanja Maij-Weggen from Holland, decried the continued high rate of human right violations still existing in Nigeria.

 A statement from Mr. Timothy Beyer Helen, spokesman for Mr Corrie, Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)- European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly, obtained from the European Commission Delegation in Abuja and which was made available to THISDAY, expressed dismay that the "latest Sharia court decision in Nigeria comes only days after the Islamic Sokoto Sharia Court of Appeal acquitted Safiya Hussaini of a death penalty by stoning for adultery, "a sentence that caused an unprecedented outcry worldwide, mainly from the European Institutions led by the European Parliament."