Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by stoning for the "crime" of bearing a child by a man she divorced two years previously. Under sharia laws in effect in many of Nigeria's northern states, which are based on a strict interpretation of Islam, the judges found Lawal guilty of "adultery". In many cases, harsh punishments for adultery are imposed on women who have been raped or have borne children to estranged husbands who no longer want to take care of them.
While a pre-Islamic custom knitted into northern Nigeria's sharia law means that a woman is not considered to have committed adultery if she has a child by a former husband for up to seven years after the divorce, Lawal was denied this defence. The death sentence cannot be carried out before Lawal's baby Wasila is weaned from her breast. So in 2004, Lawal will be killed; she is currently in hiding awaiting her appeal.
The population of Nigeria's north is predominately Muslim and the northern ruling elite has been pushing to impose the strict sharia law. They have been successful in 12 out of Nigeria's 36 states. Sharia's penalties also include amputations for theft and lashings for fornication. The building of churches, musical performances, the wearing of pants, drinking alcohol and riding in mixed-gender taxis is forbidden.
Nigeria has a history of division between the north and the south, where the people are mainly Christian or follow traditional African religions. The numerical dominance of northern Nigerians has meant that political power has been concentrated in the hands of the northern elite, whose stranglehold on the military establishment remains the key political feature of post-independence Nigeria. However, Nigeria's vitally important oil industry is located in the south.
The election of Olusegun Obasanjo, a southern Christian and former military dictator, following the 1997 death of Sani Abacha, Nigeria's last military ruler, has done little to erode the northen elite's power. Obasanjo had the support of key factions of the military, which means the Nigerian central government is extremely sensitive to the northern elite's sensibilities.
The introduction of sharia is a serious attack on the human rights of northern Nigerians, especially women, non-Muslims and poor or underprivileged groups. The law is aimed at controlling the poor and religious minorities. Human rights groups have protested against the selective application of sharia, which is biased in favour of men.
There is no doubt that women are more affected by sharia. The death sentence for adultery is rarely imposed on the man who takes part in the act. A man is only punished if he confesses to the court or if there are four witnesses to the act. This means that a man can deny he has had sex with the woman and get away with it. Because the woman's pregnancy is proof that she had sex, she cannot escape being sentenced.
Lawal is not the only woman to be recently sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria. Safiya Hussaini Tungar Tudu, who was raped, was also sentenced. However, this was overturned on appeal. Safiya said of her ordeal: "I felt like dying that day [of the sentence] because of the injustice. I never thought there would be such a penalty. It is because I am poor, my family is poor and I am a woman."
A teenage mother, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, who was also raped, was flogged 100 times for having sex before marriage. The sentence was carried out before she had a chance to appeal.
If Lawal's next appeal fails, she can appeal to Nigeria's Federal High Court. Experts predict that the High Court will most likely overrule the sentence as being unconstitutional. However, if the sentence is confirmed it will have dire consequences for all women in Nigeria.
At least half of Nigeria's 120 million citizens live in abject poverty despite the country's massive oil wealth. While Nigeria's corrupt elite has socked away billions in oil revenues and Western oil companies make massive profits from Nigeria, the country ranks as the 13th poorest country in the world.
While we campaign for refugees' rights in Australia, against the war and against the government's policies here, we must also continue to show solidarity with people in the Third World until they are free from the oppression that inescapably flows from being dominated by Western- and military-controlled governments.
BY TERRICA STRUDWICK
[The author is a member of the socialist youth organisation Resistance].
From Green Left Weekly, November 6, 2002.
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