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afrol News, 22 March - After the Northern Nigerian mother of five, Safiya Hussaini, was convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court, Nigeria has become deeply split on Shari' a law. The federal Minster of Justice, Kanu Agabi, claims Shari' a convictions are unconstitutional while this is rejected by northern states. Safiya Hussaini is not the first Nigerian to be sentenced to death by a court following Shari' a law; on 3 January the first Shari' a execution of a man was carried out in the northern state of Katsina. Safiya's case has however become a worldwide symbol of injustice against women in Nigeria, or in general, an example of "barbaric practices", as the West calls it. Safiya is to be stoned to death when she has finished breast-feeding her youngest son, Adama, the "piece of evidence" in the adultery case. Not one man has been charged with adultery in this case. Protests have been massive, from human rights organisations, to the European Parliament, to demonstrating southern Nigerians to masses of individuals touched by Safiya's case. Even afrol News has started to receive letters regularly, arriving from Peru to Norway, expressing distaste with the upcoming execution. Pressure on the federal government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to intervene has thus grown from day to day. Given the polarisation between the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south, and the limited powers of the federal government, Obasanjo has had to move carefully. Last month, however, the federal government found a way to address controversial the use of Shari' a law. It ratified several international human rights treaties, thus moving the responsibility up to a higher level. This week, backed by international law, Minister of Justice Agabi therefore could make a first firm stand against the practice of Shari' a. Minister Agabi wrote a letter to the 12 northern states practicing Shari' a law stating that the discrimination practiced by only sentencing Muslims by the Shari' a code was unconstitutional. Muslims should not be "subjected to more severe punishments than other Nigerians," Agabi wrote. Muslims had the same constitutional rights as others, he added. Agabi's letter does not especially mention Safiya's case, where a verdict on an appeal is due next week. His note that courts deciding on "punishments contrary to the constitution" were a threat to the nation however was a clear signal. State governments in Northern Nigeria still seem little impressed by federal Minister Agabi's threats. Governor Ahmed Sani of the northern state of Zamfara already has made statement saying these Shari' a punishments were legal under the constitution and that his administration had no plans to change its justice system. Governor Sani is considered one of the architects behind the introduction of Shari' a law in Northern Nigeria. In a comment to the BBC, he said "Islam is a faith, a belief - it is only those who believe in that faith that will either determine something is wrong or something is right." He further claimed the Nigerian constitution specifically allows for the implementation of Islamic law. Meanwhile, the fate of Safiya Hussaini remains uncertain. A Sokoto Islamic Court will decide on her appeal next week. Safiya's lawyer had brought new evidence to the case during the appeal, claiming the 35-year-old woman probably got pregnant with the ex-husband, which according to the Shari' a code not is considered adultery. In a similar case in January, Hafsatu Abubakar, a 17-year old Nigerian girl was discharged and acquitted of adultery charges by a Sokoto Shari' a court after changing her testimony and claiming that the baby in question probably was fathered by her former husband, whom she was divorced from some months before. Safiya uses the same lawyer as Hafsatu used, and they count on the precedence set by the Hafsatu case. Sources:
Based on Nigerian press reports and afrol archives
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