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Protest Sentence of Nigerian Woman to Death by Stoning

August 26, 2002

On August 19, a regional Nigerian appeals court upheld the sentence of Amina 
Lawal Kurami to the ultimate punishment -- death by stoning -- for bearing a 
child out of wedlock, an action that didn't hurt anyone. Clearly a man 
participated in this, and yet only Amina Lawal Kurami faces death.

Three years ago a number of states in northern Nigeria began implementing 
laws based on Sharia, an extremist interpretation of Islamic law which 
considers sex out of wedlock a crime punishable by death. Under Sharia, the 
oath of a man denying having had sex with a woman out of wedlock is often 
considered sufficient proof of his "innocence" unless four independent and 
reputable witnesses testify to seeing him take part in the act.

The man Amina Lawal Kurami identified as the child's father denied the 
accusation and was acquitted for lack of evidence last spring. The judge 
said the sentence would be carried out as soon as Amina Lawal Kurami weaned 
her daughter from breast-feeding.

Until both women and men are treated equally under the law in Nigeria, other 
women are certain to be sentenced to death for the "crime" of becoming 
pregnant out of wedlock, even if it is the result of rape.

The national government of Nigeria opposes the stonings, beheadings and 
amputations being applied under the radical interpretation of Islamic law, 
but it is still being practiced in 12 northern states.

Amina Lawal Kurami's sentence is both inhumane and discriminatory, and it's 
clearly a violation of the Nigerian constitution and inconsistent with 
Nigeria's obligation under the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All 
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

NOW calls on the U.S. State Department and citizens of the world to pressure 
the United Nations and Nigeria to enforce all the treaties that Nigeria has 
committed itself to adhere to -- including the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and CEDAW -- to ensure that women's basic human rights are 
respected.
Take Action! Here's what you can do:

1. If you are in the D.C. area, attend the Capital City NOW protest in front 
of the Nigerian embassy in Washington on August 29, 2002 at 12:15 p.m. The 
Nigerian Embassy is located at 1333 16th Street, NW (North of Scott Circle).

2. Wherever you live, you can you can go to
http://www.now.org/congress/issues/alert/?alertid=420331&type=CU
to send a letter to officials in the U.S., at the U.N. and in Nigeria, 
expressing your outrage at this inhuman sentencing.

3. Contact your representative and urge her or him to co-sponsor H. Con. 
Res. 350, a resolution which was passed by the House Subcommittee on 
International Operations and Human Rights condemning the practice of 
execution by stoning as a gross violation of human rights. Call the House 
switchboard at 202-224-3121.

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“It is only those who do nothing who make no mistakes. - Peter Kropotkin
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