Nigeria: Flogging, amputations and more death-by-stoning sentences
Amina Lawal Kurami could become the first person to be executed by stoning since the northern states of Nigeria have implemented Sharia (Islamic law).
The long awaited decision of the Islamic high court in Funtuas, Katsina state, shocked Nigeria’s growing human rights movement and people around the world. The court confirmed the barbarian judgment imposed upon the unwed mother by a Sharia court in Bakori in March 2002 on charges of adultery.
This is the second judgment of its kind. The first woman sentenced to death by stoning was Safiyatu Husseini Tunga-Tuda, condemned in October 2001. Under the pressure of worldwide protest, the Islamic appeal court in Sokoto acquitted Safiyatu in March 2002 [we reported in Bulletin # 88 and Bulletin # 93]. There had been the expectation that the appeal court, too, would acquit Amina Lawal.
The cases are very similar. Both Safiyatu (35) and Amina (30) were divorced by their former husbands and got pregnant out of wedlock. Both did not understand the implications of the drastic change of the legal system, which had taken place, and had no lawyer, when they admitted intimate relations outside marriage to the authorities. In both cases their confession was reason enough for the Sharia courts to impose the highest possible punishment on them, while the fathers of their babies escaped for lack of evidence. Under Sharia rules of proof, a man can only be convicted of adultery if there are four male witnesses for the act, while an unmarried woman can be condemned simply for becoming pregnant.
The acquittal by the appeal court in Safiyatu Husseini’s case was based on three reasons. First, the child had been conceived before Sharia was implemented in Sokoto state and therefore Islamic law was not applicable. Second, the accused had not been aware of the dire consequences of her confession, and third, she did not have a lawyer. Safiyatu was given opportunity by the appeal court to modify her statement and presented the astonishing – though under Islamic law officially acceptable – explanation that the baby was the child of her former husband only, which had been “sleeping” in her for two years after divorce.
Amina Lawal’s team of lawyers from the capital Abuja, who have meantime been organized by the Women’s Rights Advance and Protection Alternative, presented the same arguments, however without success. Amina had told the authorities in January that her then new-born daughter Wasilia was an offspring of her 11-moths-lasting intimate relation with her boy friend Yahaya Mahmud, who wanted to marry her. This confession remained the base of her conviction. The court was unimpressed by any protest. “Based on proofs derived through our investigations and through Islamic books I, Aliyu Abdullahi, and my three assistants hereby uphold your conviction of death by stoning as prescribed by the Sharia. This judgment will be carried out as soon as your baby is weaned”, declared the presiding judge. The ruling was answered with cheering and cries of  “God is great!”  from the public gallery of the packed courtroom.
Meantime an appeal has lodged with the higher court, informed the lawyers.
***
Nigeria is the most populous state of Africa. Half of its 120 million people are Muslims, half Christians. In 2000, the states of the predominantly Muslim north of the country started to implement Sharia. This triggered violent communal clashes, in which during the past three years more than 3000 people were killed. There are 12 Sharia states now, whose Muslim population is forced under the jurisdiction of religious penal courts, imposing barbarian punishments on them. Several men and young boys have been convicted to amputation of limbs for petty thefts. Some amputations have been already executed. A teenage girl, who became pregnant after being raped by three men, was punished for her “crime” with hundred public lashes last year. The list of alleged “adulterers”, being sentenced to death by stoning, is growing. So far, no execution by stoning has taken place.
Yunusa Ratin Chiyawa in Bauchi state, convicted to death by stoning in June for having a relation with a married woman, is the first man to face this punishment. The judgment was based on his confession; he had no lawyer. The woman was let free, as she claimed Yunusa had cast a spell on her. Amnesty International reported that the Bauchi state representative of the federal justice ministry tried to get the case transferred from the Sharia court to the high court of state, where there is no death penalty for adultery, but the Sharia court refused the transfer. It is not known if and how the dispute about competence between religious and state court has been solved and what is the further fate of the convicted.
Fatima Usman, divorced mother of 2 children, together with her boy friend Ahmadu Ibrahim, have been sentenced to death by stoning by an upper Sharia court in Niger state in August. The couple had been convicted for extra marital relations to 5 years jail in May. The upper court imposed the death sentence, after Fatima’s father lodged a complaint that the jail term was too mild a punishment. Their lawyer has filed an appeal.
The federal government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, did not appreciate the implementation of Sharia in the northern states, but did not stop it either. In March 2002, alarmed by an international outcry again

The completion of the nigerian story .......


Fatima Usman, divorced mother of 2 children, together with her boy friend Ahmadu Ibrahim, have been sentenced to death by stoning by an upper Sharia court in Niger state in August. The couple had been convicted for extra marital relations to 5 years jail in May. The upper court imposed the death sentence, after Fatima’s father lodged a complaint that the jail term was too mild a punishment. Their lawyer has filed an appeal.
The federal government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, did not appreciate the implementation of Sharia in the northern states, but did not stop it either. In March 2002, alarmed by an international outcry against the death sentence for Satiyatu Husseini, the government made a half-hearted move to ban Islamic law. Justice Minister Kanu Agabi informed the 12 states concerned that Sharia was inhuman and violated the Nigerian constitution, but no further steps were taken. In fact, Sharia violates not only the Nigerian constitution, but also several international human rights legal instruments, signed and ratified by Nigeria. The federal government has therefore nothing less than the duty to ban Sharia in order to uphold the values and principles enshrined in the constitution as well as to guarantee the implementation of international human rights acts. But it seems to prefer a comfortable policy of non-interference. A speaker of the governor of Katsina state made it clear to the media that there would be no interference whatsoever in the case of Amina Lawall. President Obasanjo is quoted as saying: “I don’t think what is going on will lead to her death. Indeed, if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria.”
President Obasanjo has to be politely told that the civilized world expects more from him than tears: We expect him to uphold law and order and the constitution of his country and to respect international human rights standards. We expect him therefore to ban Sharia and stop the execution of cruel and inhuman punishments like flogging and amputations with immediate effect. We expect him to guarantee for the life of Amina Lawal and all others currently sentenced to death under the Islamic law. We expect him to prevent that Nigeria goes Taliban! 
Please write to President Obasanjo:
His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic Nigeria
e-mail: webmaster@nigeria.gov.ng
Postal address: The Presidency, Federal Secretariat, Phase II, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, Nigeria
And please send a copy of your letter to Rationalist International at the following address:
HQ@rationalistinternational.net 

A man spoke frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" "Is this her first child?" the doctor asked. "No, you idiot!" the man shouted, "This is her husband!"

hahahha - fooled you all !!!!

Far-right suspects seized over McDonald's blast
From correspondents in Moscow

March 22, 2007 12:00

RUSSIAN police have detained at least six far-right activists suspected of bombing a McDonald's restaurant in St Petersburg last month, Interfax news agency quoted a police source as saying today.

The February 18 bomb, in a restaurant on the city's main thoroughfare, blew out windows and injured six people.

The source said the group has been formed after a far-right activist suspected by police of involvement in violent attacks on foreigners was shot dead during a police operation in St Petersburg last year.

"After that, several people who support the ideas of supremacy of the white race united into a group and carried out attacks against foreign citizens and organised several bomb blasts," Interfax quoted the source as saying.

Officials could not immediately be reached to confirm that suspects had been detained.

Racist sentiments, partially fuelled by a massive influx of migrants from ex-Soviet republics, are on the rise in Russia.

St Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital and President Vladimir Putin's home town, has seen a series of racist attacks against dark-skinned foreigners in the past few years.

Two dead in nuke sub mishap
From correspondents in London

March 22, 2007 12:00

TWO British sailors are dead and a third injured after an accident on board a nuclear submarine under the ice cap in the Arctic Ocean.

Early indications were that the accident on board HMS Tireless involved a piece of air purification equipment at the front of the submarine, but the vessel was “never in any danger,” the British Ministry of Defence said.

“The MoD can confirm that this morning there was an accident onboard a Trafalgar Class submarine on exercise in the Arctic,” it said.

“The submarine, HMS Tireless, was never in any danger. Its nuclear reactor was unaffected, it quickly surfaced and is completely safe.”

The hunter-killer submarine, which was taking part in a joint exercise with the US Navy, did not carry nuclear missiles.

The family of the two crew members had been informed while the third who was injured was airlifted to a US military hospital.

His injuries were not thought to be life-threatening and he was expected to make a full recovery.

“At this early stage, it is thought that the accident involved a piece of air purification equipment in the forward section of the submarine,” the ministry said.

“The ship's company dealt with the incident quickly and professionally and, as a result, there is only superficial damage to the forward compartment.

“The crew are trained in surfacing quickly through the ice, and did so in exemplary fashion.”

Air purification equipment is fitted to all Trafalgar Class submarines, of which Tireless is one of seven in the Royal Navy.

The ministry said the equipment had a 100 per cent safety record to date, but as a precaution its use on other vessels had been restricted until safety checks could be carried out.

Tireless, which is based in Devonport, in Plymouth, southwest England, was launched in 1984, but the piece of air-purification machinery thought to have failed was fitted as part of an update in 2001.

Net closing on terror leader
From correspondents in Jakarta

March 22, 2007 12:00

INDONESIAN anti-terrorist police say they are close to capturing the man responsible for the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta which killed 10 people.

A huge cache of weapons and explosive material was discovered in a Central Java house following tips from suspects arrested earlier this week, a spokesman said today.

On Tuesday officers shot dead a suspected militant, wounded one of his companions and arrested several others believed to have links with Abu Dujana, the leader of Southeast Asian militant network, Jemaah Islamiah.

JI carried out the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Dujana is wanted in connection with two deadly car-bombings in Jakarta, one at the JW Marriott Hotel and the other in front of the Australian embassy.

He emerged as the head of JI after the death of master bomb-maker Azahari Husin in 2005.

During the raid, police found three firearms, 200 detonators, 20kg of TNT, hundreds of bullets and large amounts of chemicals that could be used to make bombs, national police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said.

Asked if police were closer to catching Dujana, Mr Adiwinoto said: "Yes, we are sure and optimistic. We are moving forward step by step."

Indonesia has already arrested hundreds for involvement in those strikes or their links to the group.

Authorities say several important militant leaders remain at large. Finding them is complicated by the operation of individual cells whose members do not necessarily know about the activities of others, and by ideological and tactical splits.

Malaysian national Noordin Mohammed Top, considered a mastermind of the bombing attacks and on the run for years, has been called the most wanted fugitive in Southeast Asia, but police say his current role in JI is difficult to establish.

Bashed former Australian escapes Zimbabwe
By Vincent Morello, Simon Kirby and Paul Mulvey

March 23, 2007 12:00

An Australian foreign affairs spokeswoman said the small aircraft carrying the couple left last night at approximately 8.30pm (AEDT) on its way to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It was to be met by a road ambulance to transport the couple to a hospital where Mrs Holland would receive treatment for injuries she allegedly sustained from police beatings stemming from an opposition rally in Harare on March 11.

Mrs Holland won a court order in Harare yesterday after being detained under armed guard and without charge since her arrest following the rally.

Although the judge ordered the police to free Mrs Holland and her fellow opposition activist Grace Kwinjeh, her Australian husband Jim feared president Robert Mugabe's regime would stop them leaving.

The couple were escorted by Australian consulate in Zimbabwe Mark Lynch, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) spokeswoman said.

No other Australian representatives or security personnel accompanied the Hollands to the airport in their ambulance which was not hindered during its journey.

Although Mr Holland feared he and his wife would be stopped at the airport, they were able to board the air ambulance without provocation.

Fellow opposition activist Grace Kwinjeh also was being held without charge and the judge also ordered her release.

The DFAT spokeswoman could not confirm if Mrs Kwinjeh joined the Hollands to South Africa.

Mrs Holland needed to travel to South Africa for specialist medical treatment for a broken leg, a procedure not available in Harare.

Despite the court order, recent incidents at the airport had given Mr Holland little confidence they would be allowed onto the plane.

Mrs Holland and Mrs Kwinjeh were stopped at the airport last week and MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was ambushed and bashed with metal bars by four men wearing suits.

"I don't know whether it'll make any difference to us being able to get out of the country, but it will make us feel more secure, that's what's most important," Mr Holland said.

"And it's important to make sure the whole world is watching."

Mr Holland had said Zimbabwe has descended into a police state and he feared authorities could even try to have them killed.

Mrs Holland, policy secretary for Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, was suffering from a broken leg, broken hand and three broken ribs.

Mr Holland, a businessman, said the pair still planned to return to Zimbabwe after the treatment.

The couple were married in Australia 1961 before moving back to Mrs Holland's homeland of Zimbabwe in 1981.