Homestead mailing list

[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

All patriarchical societies are vicious, discriminatory and repressive 
against women, when the Christians or Muslims combine church and state 
in toto or in part.  Common decency is a secular virtue, not a virtue of 
institutionalized religion.

	Home <http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage> Site Guide 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/SiteMap/> Contact Us 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E53A78E4-8F00-4D4C-9B62-DE3D19E5B1AA.htm> 
Set As HomePage 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3EE585DB-DEA4-42CF-B222-FA750D0CB7C0.htm#> 
Add to favorites <javascript:if (document.all) 
{window.external.AddFavorite('http://english.aljazeera.net','Aljazeera 
Web Site')};> 	<http://www.aljazeera.net>





*

*Nigerian girl spared death by stoning*


Wednesday 10 November 2004, 19:21 Makka Time, 16:21 GMT  

*Hajara Ibrahim (L) was denied the right to defend herself*

* Related:
*
	Nigeria's Muslims yearn for lost glory 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/178144D3-D187-4098-8D5E-006CC302499B.htm> 

	Dozens dead in Nigeria religious riots 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/359C48D1-8926-43F2-B958-64806CE3C34C.htm> 

	Islamic law in the dock 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3DD4F780-5BA5-4941-8F8D-08B82B2B53C0.htm> 



* Tools:*
 	Email Article <javascript: 
window.open('/NR/exeres/4E8EED44-F54B-4EC4-9BCD-26450A6FF14E.htm?sendhrefguid={3EE585DB-DEA4-42CF-B222-FA750D0CB7C0}','_blank','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=0,resizable=0,width=460,height=500'); 
void(0);>
 	Print Article <javascript: 
window.open('/NR/exeres/554FAF3A-B267-427A-B9EC-54881BDE0A2E.htm?printguid={3EE585DB-DEA4-42CF-B222-FA750D0CB7C0}','_blank','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'); 
void(0);>
 	Send Your Feedback <javascript: 
window.open('/NR/exeres/BB2DFB69-AE83-48BF-8F1B-02E3A95BDDC0.htm?feedbackguid={3EE585DB-DEA4-42CF-B222-FA750D0CB7C0}&sendto=author','_blank','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=0,resizable=0,width=470,height=500'); 
void(0);>

**

*An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has discharged and acquitted a 
pregnant teenager of her conviction for adultery, for which she had been 
sentenced to be stoned to death.*

Presiding judge Muhammad Mustapha Umar of the Upper Sharia court said on 
Wednesday that the lower Sharia (Islamic law) court was wrong in 
sentencing Hajara Ibrahim, 18, to death by stoning last October.

"This court observes the following faults in the lower court judgement. 
Firstly, the judge was wrong in sentencing Hajara to 100 lashes and 
death by stoning, all at the same time," he said.

"Secondly, Dauda Sani was charged to court for having an affair with 
Hajara which he denied. Therefore, the lower court should have dismissed 
the case and sentenced Hajara's father who was the plaintiff to 80 
lashes for slander."

The judge at the court in Dass, in the northern Bauchi state, said the 
lower court also erred by not giving Hajara the chance to defend herself.

*Health worries*

"Any judgement passed without chance of defence is null and void. Based 
on these reasons, this court hereby nullifies the lower court judgement 
and discharges and acquits Hajara Ibrahim," he added.

Judge Umar said anybody who is not satisfied with the ruling can file an 
appeal at the Sharia court of appeal.

*Nigeria's Muslim north has largely
opted for Islamic law*

Hajara's lawyer, Abd al-Qadir Sulaiman, had argued that the October 
ruling was invalid because Hajara had not consummated her marriage 
before sleeping with her boyfriend and conceiving a child.

Following the ruling Hajara Ibrahim said she was happy and thanked those 
who assisted her.

"My main worry now is my health and that of my child. I hope for a safe 
delivery," she said.

*Controversial punishments*

The 18-year old said she has forgiven her boyfriend for denying he had 
an affair with her. "I have left him to his conscience," she said.

Since 1999, 12 states across the mainly Muslim north of the country have 
begun reintroducing Sharia principles into their penal codes, including 
punishments such as flogging, amputation and stoning.

*"Any judgement passed without chance of defence is null and void. Based 
on these reasons, this court hereby nullifies the lower **court 
judgement and discharges and acquits Hajara Ibrahim"

*Judge Muhammad Mustapha Umar,
Upper Sharia Court,
Bauchi state, Nigeria

No stonings have yet been carried out, but several men and women around 
the region have been convicted of a variety of sexual crimes - adultery, 
rape or sodomy - and are awaiting news of their appeals.

Proponents of Islamic law say the punishments are a small part of a 
system which guarantees law and order and the wellbeing of society.

However, human-rights groups have denounced the punishments as barbaric.

Aljazeera + Agencies

*