A Bit of Good News

Via Mostly AFRICA comes word that in Nigeria, the most recent case of a woman being sentenced to death by stoning for adultery has been overturned.

DASS, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian Islamic appeal court has freed a pregnant woman sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex out of wedlock.

Judge Mohammed Mustapha Umar said the conviction of 29-year-old Hajara Ibrahim by the Lere lower court was unsound and set the woman free.

"Thank God it is all over now. I wish myself a safe delivery," said a six-month pregnant Ibrahim, wearing a light blue Islamic robe and headscarf.

The lower court had sentenced her to 100 lashes and death by stoning after she confessed to having unlawful sex with a 35-year-old man, Dauda Sani. She became pregnant but Sani was released for lack of evidence.

The appeal judge annulled the conviction on the grounds it was incorrect to deliver the two sentences for the crime; the confession was void because it was not made four times; Ibrahim was not given the chance to defend herself; and the investigation was not properly carried out.

"The court has therefore set Hajara free of all charges," Umar said.

As pleasant as it is to hear this, I'm still not sanguine about the existence of Sharia courts with the power to pass death sentences, and I'm convinced that it's only a matter of time before some poor woman is put to death through their agency. It's too much to expect that every appeal against such a sentence will succeed.

Comments

[bartlog]

Yah. It sounds like the conviction was overturned because of procedural problems with the original trial, not because stoning someone to death for adultery is barbaric. So it's a marginal victory.

[Kenya Hudson]

There have been 12 (I think) such cases and none have been carried out. Often, technical loopholes have been the guise for not doing so. Perhaps, these courts and local governments want the publicity boost of being perceived as law-and-order types, while avoiding the outcry should they actually execute someone.