In 2002, I thought that the world would be more liberal and less judgmental. I have discovered that a 30 year-old Muslim woman, Amina Lawal, has been sentenced to death by stoning by a Shari’ah court at Bakori in Katsina State in northern Nigeria. Amina has allegedly confessed, according to Amnesty International, to having had a child while divorced. In reading about the Shari’ah religion, I have discovered that pregnancy outside of marriage is illegal and is equal to adultery. This is a new penal code for Muslims, which was adopted August 2002 by Katsina State.Lawal was originally sentenced to death on March 22, 2002, after confessing to having sex with a man to whom she was not married. As noted in a news release by Amnesty International, adultery is a crime punishable by death under the Quranic-based Shari’ah law. This law is currently applicable to many of the Muslims who reside in northern states of Nigeria.
While Lawal has been sentenced to death by stoning, the alleged father of her child has denied the child, and all charges have been dropped against him.
Amnesty International has partnered with The Oprah Winfrey Show to help save the life of this mother. Anyone who feels that this will be a grave injustice may go to http://www.oprah.com/joint/oprah/aminahtml.jhtml to sign a form letter in opposition to the stoning. This letter will be forwarded to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Minister of Justice Kanu Godwin Agabi to halt Amina Lawal’s death sentence. Lawal has been given 30 days to appeal the sentence.
If you feel that you would like to make a difference in the life of a woman and her infant child, please go to the website listed above. After all, if Amina is killed and the father has denied everything in order to avoid punishment, what will happen to the child?