NOW Denounces Sentence of Nigerian Woman to Stoning

August 20, 2002

"Yesterday 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," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "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)."

"We call 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. "

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• Go to our legislative action site to send a letter to officials in the U.S., at the U.N. and in Nigeria, expressing your outrage at this inhuman sentencing.

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