Women's groups, NGOs join the campaign

Women and women organisations in Nigeria are up in arms against the Sokoto State government, over the death sentence by stoning passed on Safiya Husaini by an upper sharia court in the state for allegedly committing adultery. They are joined in that battle by Muslims who believe that the punishment is too harsh and should be reviewed.

Abiola Akinyode Afolabi, co-ordinator of a coalition of women NGOs is rallying the support of all women in Nigeria for the campaign to save Safiya's life. She argued that "the sentence on Safiya and other women is a miscarriage of justice." A vigorous 'Safiya Must Not Die' campaign, has been mounted to bring pressure to bear on the authorities in Sokoto State to spare the life of the woman.

Abdullahi Halima, a Muslim and director of the Help Eliminate Loneliness and Poverty, HELP, a non-governmental organisation, NGO, also condemned the death sentence. She said the sentence was an embarrassment to the majority of Muslims especially women. She called on the governor of Sokoto State , Attahiru Bafarawa to intervene to save Safiya's life.

Linda Ewaen Osarenren, information officer, Inter-African Committee, IAC, Nigeria , also condemned the death sentence but with some reservations. While describing the judgment as barbaric, she said that sharia should be allowed to take its course since women in the north at the on-set refused to complement the effort of southern women who saw the potential danger posed by the adoption of sharia in the north. "Even now, what has Hajia Aishat Ismail, minister for women affairs and youth development done about it? Is she not supposed to cry out against such injustice?" She queried. She said that northern women should take the lead in the battle to save Safiya's life especially when the co-accused has been set free for "lack of evidence."

Safiya claimed that Abubakar Yakubu made her pregnant after raping her. He denied it. The judge set him free since according to him, there was no evidence to prove that Yakubu was guilty.

Many men have joined the campaign to save Safiya. Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate and acclaimed human rights activist said that the judgment was barbaric. "We must not allow this murder to take place," he said. Soyinka wants the national assembly, the attorney-general and President Olusegun Obasanjo in particular to take immediate action to prevent this "heinous act" from being committed in the name of sharia. "There are many interpretations of even the laws of the sharia and when in doubt, I believe that the prerogative of mercy, especially when it comes to taking of life should be exercised. Nigerians should not be unwilling accessories to a crime of stoning the woman to death under a law that clearly violates both the spirit and letter of the constitution," he said.

He also said that the most fundamental right of any individual was the right to life. "It cannot be accepted that the right of a woman, especially a grown up woman of marriageable age to give her body to any man whom she wants is not a fundamental right that belongs to her. She is not a prostitute and even if she is, her life cannot be taken away from her simply because she gave her body for money. It is against the concept of justice in the 21st century," he argued. He therefore appealed to all Nigerians to rise above their various religious persuasions and condemn the sentence.

Abdulkarim Abubakar, a Muslim and PDP stalwart said that the death sentence on Safiya was undoubtedly the last phase of the manifestation of madness in the name of sharia. Abubakar, who described himself as a devout Muslim, said that for anybody to take another's life just for committing adultery was detestable to him.

But Olalekan Yusuf, a Muslim, lawyer and chairman Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ikeja branch warned that Nigerians must avoid politicising Safiya's case. According to him, the woman had been tried by a court of first instance and wrongly or rightly she had been convicted. "The other remedy she has is to appeal to the Sharia Court of Appeal which she has done. Safiya's first victory was that the court has granted her a stay of execution against the judgment of the lower court," he said.

The NBA chairman, however, insisted that the death sentence was in order since the Nigerian constitution recognises the sharia legal system. He therefore advised that some form of caution must be applied by the "southern press," NGOs and non-Muslims on the matter.

There were reports last week that the woman has vanished from her village. But the trial judge, Muhammed Bello, has said that Safiya would only run but she must face the music wherever and whenever she was found.

Additional reports by Favour Okereke, Fola Adekeye, and Tobs Agbaegbu