Phreakmeister
August 14th, 2002, 02:52 PM
Sharia beating for motorcyclists (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/874914.stm)
Two motorcycle taxi riders in northern Nigeria have been lashed in punishment for carrying female passengers. They are the first to be punished under a law which came into effect in the state of Zamfara earlier this week, forbidding the carrying of Muslim female passengers on motorbikes.
The new law is the latest element of Sharia, or Islamic law, to come into effect, after the state official adopted Sharia in January.
Each of the riders received 20 strokes of the lash.
Our correspondent in Gusau, Ibrahim Dossara, told the BBC's Focus on Africa that about 300 people gathered to see the punishment meted out.
One of the men cried as he was beaten.
Women escape beating
The passengers were not punished because they were married - but our correspondent says an unmarried woman caught riding a motorbike would be punished. Our correspondent says 200 other motorbike riders have been arrested for the same offence, and are awaiting trial.
Until now, the motorbike taxis have been a popular form of transport for women in Gusau, the main city in Zamfara state. The Zamfara authorities are also enforcing Islamic bans on prostitution, and on games of chance like ludo and cards.
'Misunderstood'
The state of Yobe recently became the seventh northern state to introduce or announce plans to implement Sharia since the country's return to civilian rule last year. The governor of Yobe, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, signed a bill on Monday to enforce the code from 1 October.
Correspondents say the issue has polarised opinion in Nigeria, where it is opposed by the predominantly Christian south.
Muslims in northern Nigeria feel strongly that Sharia has been misunderstood by Christians, who have tended to concentrate on the fact that it introduces punishments such as amputation for theft and flogging for people caught drinking alcohol.
Four more states - Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Kebbi - states are expected to announce their plans soon.
Nigerian single mother flogged (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/1131189.stm)
A sentence of 100 lashes passed on a teenage girl found guilty of pre-marital sex has been carried out in northern Nigeria. The girl, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, was sentenced under Islamic law after three men forced her into having sex last September. She was made pregnant in the incident and her punishment was deferred by the authorities in the northern state of Zamfara until two weeks after she had given birth.
Her case provoked national and international outrage, and human rights groups and the Canadian government protested vehemently when the sentence was passed last year.
A BBC correspondent in Zamfara said Miss Bariya had not been badly hurt by the flogging, and though bruised, she was able to walk away. Our correspondent also says she had received several marriage proposals after her beating and had accepted one of her suitors.
Pregnant
Reports say that a crowd of about 100 people gathered to watch.
The case will come as an embarrassment to the Nigerian Government, which has chosen not to confront states in the north of the country which have extended Sharia during the past year.
Human rights groups in Nigeria have been quick to condemn the lashings with one women's group, which had been lobbying for Bariya, saying it was shocked and surprised.
Divisive issue
Since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999, eight northern states have introduced Islamic law, known as Sharia. Zamfara was the first state to do so a year ago, and has been the most active in prosecuting the code.
The issue has polarised opinion in Nigeria, where it is opposed by the predominantly Christian south.
Muslims in northern Nigeria feel strongly that Sharia has been misunderstood by Christians, who have tended to concentrate on the punishments.
But it also has massive popular appeal to those who believe it will help root out corruption and restore moral values.
Critics say public floggings for pre-marital sex violate the constitution and are an infringement of human rights.
Nigerian woman fights stoning (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2116540.stm)
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has begun hearing an appeal from a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under controversial Sharia, or Islamic, law.
Amina Lawal will have to wait a while yet for the judgement. After hearing from her defence counsel today, the four Sharia judges have adjourned the case until next month.
Her lawyers, funded by human rights organisations, are claiming that the father of Amina's child is her former husband, using the defence allowable under Islamic law, that the foetus lay dormant in her womb since the divorce two years ago. This is the second such case to come before the Sharia court of appeal. The previous conviction was overturned earlier this year after intense international pressure from human rights groups.
Despite the Nigerian federal government declaring such strict Sharia punishments unconstitutional, the country's northern states appear determined to enforce these laws.
The convicted woman, Amina Lawal, now has an eight-month old baby daughter. The existence of this child, born to a divorcee, was evidence enough to convict her of the crime of adultery. Unless she can win an appeal against the judgement, she will be stoned to death.
Human rights campaigners say that the punishment is not only inhumane but severely discriminates against women. To convict a man of the same crime he must either confess directly to the court, or no less than four men have to attest to witnessing the physical act of adultery.
Religious split
If there is one issue that threatens to divide this country more than any other it is the implementation of these strict Islamic laws in the majority Muslim northern states. Although the punishment only applies to Muslims, Christians in the north feel threatened and tensions between the two communities have led to major outbreaks of inter-religious violence over the past three years. The federal government has declared such Sharia punishments unconstitutional but, in direct defiance of this, northern leaders have pressed ahead, resisting what they describe as "undue pressure" from non-Muslims in the Nigerian Government.
If Amina Lawal loses her appeal this time, she can take her case all the way to the Supreme Court in Abuja. Only then would the debate come to a head and the constitutionality of the strict Sharia punishments really be tested.
(Verdict is expected at August 19th, 2002)
Nigerians flogged for drinking (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/1100284.stm)
Two men found guilty of drinking alcohol have been flogged before large crowds in the northern Nigerian city of Kano after they became the first people in the state to be sentenced under new Islamic laws. The Muslim men received 80 lashes each before excited crowds, after confessing, in a packed Sharia courtroom, to drinking alcohol.
Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, extended the jurisdiction of Islamic law, or Sharia, late last year, following the example of several neighbouring states. Later, the younger of the two promised to never drink again and said he felt happy that he had been cleansed of his sins.
Crackdown
They had been arrested by a new Islamic vigilante group known as the Hisba. This group has been making a determined effort to end drinking and prostitution in Kano, in accordance with the Sharia.
The governor of Kano has assured Christians that they have nothing to fear, but on Tuesday a Christian man living in Kano told journalists that he too had received 80 lashes from Muslim vigilantes after they broke into his house and accused him of selling home-made beer.
Last year, thousands of people were killed in religious fighting in the nearby northern city of Kaduna.
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he will not intervene on the Sharia controversy because of the passionate emotions that surround it.
Motorbike ban in Sharia state (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/871032.stm)
Muslim women in Nigeria's northern state of Zamfara have been banned from riding on motorbikes. Authorities in the Zamfara capital, Gusau, enacted the law on Monday, terming it a "safety measure" to curb the high number of motorbike accidents involving women and children. About 10 people - many of them children - die in road accidents involving motorbikes in Zamfara State each day. But many believe the new law was motivated not by safety reasons but moral concerns prescribed by Sharia or Islamic law which was adopted in the state early this year.
Harsh punishment
The BBC's correspondent in Zamfara, Ibrahim Dosara, says that now only men in the city and non-Muslim women are allowed to ride on motorbikes. The council has warned that it would deal ruthlessly with anybody caught flouting the law.
Punishment includes a three months imprisonment term, 20 strokes of the cane and confiscation of a motorbike for three weeks. The Gusau municipal council has also outlawed games of chance such as pool and cards. The local government did not, however, make it clear whether the ban on gambling applied across the board or was restricted to Muslims.
Two motorcycle taxi riders in northern Nigeria have been lashed in punishment for carrying female passengers. They are the first to be punished under a law which came into effect in the state of Zamfara earlier this week, forbidding the carrying of Muslim female passengers on motorbikes.
The new law is the latest element of Sharia, or Islamic law, to come into effect, after the state official adopted Sharia in January.
Each of the riders received 20 strokes of the lash.
Our correspondent in Gusau, Ibrahim Dossara, told the BBC's Focus on Africa that about 300 people gathered to see the punishment meted out.
One of the men cried as he was beaten.
Women escape beating
The passengers were not punished because they were married - but our correspondent says an unmarried woman caught riding a motorbike would be punished. Our correspondent says 200 other motorbike riders have been arrested for the same offence, and are awaiting trial.
Until now, the motorbike taxis have been a popular form of transport for women in Gusau, the main city in Zamfara state. The Zamfara authorities are also enforcing Islamic bans on prostitution, and on games of chance like ludo and cards.
'Misunderstood'
The state of Yobe recently became the seventh northern state to introduce or announce plans to implement Sharia since the country's return to civilian rule last year. The governor of Yobe, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, signed a bill on Monday to enforce the code from 1 October.
Correspondents say the issue has polarised opinion in Nigeria, where it is opposed by the predominantly Christian south.
Muslims in northern Nigeria feel strongly that Sharia has been misunderstood by Christians, who have tended to concentrate on the fact that it introduces punishments such as amputation for theft and flogging for people caught drinking alcohol.
Four more states - Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Kebbi - states are expected to announce their plans soon.
Nigerian single mother flogged (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/1131189.stm)
A sentence of 100 lashes passed on a teenage girl found guilty of pre-marital sex has been carried out in northern Nigeria. The girl, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, was sentenced under Islamic law after three men forced her into having sex last September. She was made pregnant in the incident and her punishment was deferred by the authorities in the northern state of Zamfara until two weeks after she had given birth.
Her case provoked national and international outrage, and human rights groups and the Canadian government protested vehemently when the sentence was passed last year.
A BBC correspondent in Zamfara said Miss Bariya had not been badly hurt by the flogging, and though bruised, she was able to walk away. Our correspondent also says she had received several marriage proposals after her beating and had accepted one of her suitors.
Pregnant
Reports say that a crowd of about 100 people gathered to watch.
The case will come as an embarrassment to the Nigerian Government, which has chosen not to confront states in the north of the country which have extended Sharia during the past year.
Human rights groups in Nigeria have been quick to condemn the lashings with one women's group, which had been lobbying for Bariya, saying it was shocked and surprised.
Divisive issue
Since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999, eight northern states have introduced Islamic law, known as Sharia. Zamfara was the first state to do so a year ago, and has been the most active in prosecuting the code.
The issue has polarised opinion in Nigeria, where it is opposed by the predominantly Christian south.
Muslims in northern Nigeria feel strongly that Sharia has been misunderstood by Christians, who have tended to concentrate on the punishments.
But it also has massive popular appeal to those who believe it will help root out corruption and restore moral values.
Critics say public floggings for pre-marital sex violate the constitution and are an infringement of human rights.
Nigerian woman fights stoning (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2116540.stm)
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has begun hearing an appeal from a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under controversial Sharia, or Islamic, law.
Amina Lawal will have to wait a while yet for the judgement. After hearing from her defence counsel today, the four Sharia judges have adjourned the case until next month.
Her lawyers, funded by human rights organisations, are claiming that the father of Amina's child is her former husband, using the defence allowable under Islamic law, that the foetus lay dormant in her womb since the divorce two years ago. This is the second such case to come before the Sharia court of appeal. The previous conviction was overturned earlier this year after intense international pressure from human rights groups.
Despite the Nigerian federal government declaring such strict Sharia punishments unconstitutional, the country's northern states appear determined to enforce these laws.
The convicted woman, Amina Lawal, now has an eight-month old baby daughter. The existence of this child, born to a divorcee, was evidence enough to convict her of the crime of adultery. Unless she can win an appeal against the judgement, she will be stoned to death.
Human rights campaigners say that the punishment is not only inhumane but severely discriminates against women. To convict a man of the same crime he must either confess directly to the court, or no less than four men have to attest to witnessing the physical act of adultery.
Religious split
If there is one issue that threatens to divide this country more than any other it is the implementation of these strict Islamic laws in the majority Muslim northern states. Although the punishment only applies to Muslims, Christians in the north feel threatened and tensions between the two communities have led to major outbreaks of inter-religious violence over the past three years. The federal government has declared such Sharia punishments unconstitutional but, in direct defiance of this, northern leaders have pressed ahead, resisting what they describe as "undue pressure" from non-Muslims in the Nigerian Government.
If Amina Lawal loses her appeal this time, she can take her case all the way to the Supreme Court in Abuja. Only then would the debate come to a head and the constitutionality of the strict Sharia punishments really be tested.
(Verdict is expected at August 19th, 2002)
Nigerians flogged for drinking (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/1100284.stm)
Two men found guilty of drinking alcohol have been flogged before large crowds in the northern Nigerian city of Kano after they became the first people in the state to be sentenced under new Islamic laws. The Muslim men received 80 lashes each before excited crowds, after confessing, in a packed Sharia courtroom, to drinking alcohol.
Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, extended the jurisdiction of Islamic law, or Sharia, late last year, following the example of several neighbouring states. Later, the younger of the two promised to never drink again and said he felt happy that he had been cleansed of his sins.
Crackdown
They had been arrested by a new Islamic vigilante group known as the Hisba. This group has been making a determined effort to end drinking and prostitution in Kano, in accordance with the Sharia.
The governor of Kano has assured Christians that they have nothing to fear, but on Tuesday a Christian man living in Kano told journalists that he too had received 80 lashes from Muslim vigilantes after they broke into his house and accused him of selling home-made beer.
Last year, thousands of people were killed in religious fighting in the nearby northern city of Kaduna.
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he will not intervene on the Sharia controversy because of the passionate emotions that surround it.
Motorbike ban in Sharia state (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/871032.stm)
Muslim women in Nigeria's northern state of Zamfara have been banned from riding on motorbikes. Authorities in the Zamfara capital, Gusau, enacted the law on Monday, terming it a "safety measure" to curb the high number of motorbike accidents involving women and children. About 10 people - many of them children - die in road accidents involving motorbikes in Zamfara State each day. But many believe the new law was motivated not by safety reasons but moral concerns prescribed by Sharia or Islamic law which was adopted in the state early this year.
Harsh punishment
The BBC's correspondent in Zamfara, Ibrahim Dosara, says that now only men in the city and non-Muslim women are allowed to ride on motorbikes. The council has warned that it would deal ruthlessly with anybody caught flouting the law.
Punishment includes a three months imprisonment term, 20 strokes of the cane and confiscation of a motorbike for three weeks. The Gusau municipal council has also outlawed games of chance such as pool and cards. The local government did not, however, make it clear whether the ban on gambling applied across the board or was restricted to Muslims.