Ghanian Chronicle

NIGERIA:Breastfeeding Mum to Be Stoned to Death

Any day now Safiya Hussaini Tungar- Tudu, a 35 year-old Nigerian woman with a year-old infant, may be buried up to her waist in the sand and stoned to death.

The Islamic Court in Gwadabawa, given the right to apply Islamic Shariah law last year, found her guilty of adultery.

 The stoning was again delayed last Monday when the local court adjourned an appeal hearing until March.

 The delay in Miss Hussanini's execution came at the behest of a group of 77 Euro-MPs who pled her case with President Olusegun Obasanjo and have requested he throw out the sentence.

 The Europeans, never shy to lecture the U.S. on the application of the death penalty, are right on principles and policy in this case.

 The legal particulars are confusing, and largely irrelevant.

 The 5th of 12 children, Miss Hussaini gave birth to an illegitimate child, the only proof required by the court. Belatedly, she now says she was raped.

 The alleged father is at large.

 The legal purists might add the baby was conceived before the new Islamic fundamentalist reading of the local adultery laws was introduced in this northern, mostly Muslim area in January of last year.

 The collapse of the old regime n Afghanistan ought to mark the beginning of the end to stonings and other medieval practices copied from the Taliban.

 John Corrie, a British Tory MEP who drafted the letter, asserts that Nigeria ought to respect "international human-rights standards."

 The bigger concern n Nigeria, though, ought to be the apparent rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

 Just like Indonesia, Nigeria is a big and populous country rich in natural resources and the potential for instability.

 The European Parliament, a pretty lonely voice on the Hussaini case, sent President Obasanjo a strong message.

 He oversees a fledgling democracy beset by recurring-and worryingly bloody-clashes between Muslims and Christians.

 By devolving Shariah law to a dozen Nigerian states, he hoped to defuse the tensions.

 Judging by the growing fears that the execution of Ms. Hussaini will bring more violence, the opposite is more likely.

 The Europeans are making that clear.

 The Europeans are also pointing out to Mr. Obasanjo that Nigeria gets most of its development aid from the EU-70 million euros in 2000, and 552 million euros available through 2006, assuming the country sticks to democracy and tries to live by human-rights standards.

 The Parliament, similarly, is out in front in trying to bring Zimbabwe's would be Dictator Robert Mugabe to heel through "smart sanctions."

 Different incentives can work in Nigeria. Over the years, the EU hasn't been particularly good in using its very generous aid budgets to influence foreign policy.

 It's a surprise; to say the least, that the Parliament has turned out to be the EU institution endeavoring to give it a try.