By Sina Babasola, with agency reports
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IBADAN &emdash; THE Federal Government has stepped into the recent death sentence passed on Safiya Tungar-Tudu, 33, by a Sharia court in Sokoto State, with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Chief Bola IGE declaring that Abuja would not fold its hands and watch her killed. But the Sokoto State Government says her fate will be decided by an appeal court. Safiya, said to be now in hiding was sentenced to death by stoning following her conviction by the court for adultery. Chief IGE, speaking on a Voice of America (VOA) news programme, "Africa World Tonight," on Tuesday night said, "the matter has been taken up by the Federal Government and I want to say that this type of thing will not happen in Nigeria of 2001." Chief IGE who was reacting to concerns by Nigerian lawyers in New York on alleged rising cases of human rights abuses in Nigeria, faulted the death sentence passed on the pregnant woman, describing it as "harsh and crude". While assuring Nigerians and the international community that Safiya would not be killed, Chief IGE lamented the politicisation of the Islamic legal code in some parts of the country. Chief IGE explained that the present application of Sharia law was no longer what it was when the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu BELLO conceived the Islamic legal system for Northern Muslims. Said he: "Some of our brothers in the Northern part of the country have made so much politics out of the Sharia and it is denting the image of Nigeria".
Sharia Appeal Court to decide fate However, Sokoto State Government says an appeal court will eventually determine her fate. Counsel to Safiya Tungar-Tudu, 33, who is hiding after her conviction on October 9 (2001) for adultery by an Islamic court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, has appealed against the sentence. The hearing in the appeal will come up on November 27 (2001) at the Sokoto State Sharia Court of Appeal amid local and international criticisms against the death sentence. In a radio report monitored in Kano, Sokoto State Justice Commissioner, Aliyu Abubakar Saina said the government will allow the appeal court to determine Tungar-Tudu's fate. "Nobody can dismiss the sentence except the appeal court," he said. He said the public outcry and appeals against the death sentence were misplaced. "We have to allow due process of law to take its course since the application of Sharia law is constitutional," he added. Last week, the woman's lawyer, Imam Ibrahim said he had filed the appeal for a stay-of-execution and would be seeking the woman's freedom. "My legal team is only interested in the freedom of the woman and will do everything possible within the Islamic legal system to ensure this at the appeal," he said. The sentence passed by the court has been condemned by human rights groups in Nigeria and abroad. If Tungar-Tudu's appeal fails, the sentence is that she should be buried in a hole up to her neck and stoned on the head until she dies. The man with whom she was charged with committing adultery was freed by the same court for lack of evidence. Nigerian human rights groups have called the sentence a "war on the constitution" of the secular federal nation as well as a violation of her rights. The justice commissioner's announcement appeared to be a reversal of the previous position taken by Sokoto State authorities. Last month, Information Commissioner, Attahiru Mai-Akwai Gwadabawa said the lower court's decision was "irreversible" because it was based on the Islamic legal code. "Changing the rules in favour of the accused person as it is being advocated by some human rights organisations will contradict the principles of Sharia (strict Islamic law)," he added.
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IBADAN. Le Gouvernement
Fédéral intervient dans la récente
condamnation à mort de Safiya TUNGAR-TUDU, 33 ans,
qui a été prononcée par une cour
islamiste de l'état de Sokoto. Par la voix du
Procureur Général de la
Fédération et Ministre de la Justice, le chef
Bola IGE, qui a, en effet, déclaré que Abuja
{NDLR : le Gouvernement Fédéral} ne se
croiserait pas les mains devant sa condamnation à
mort. Mais le gouvernement de l'État de Sokoto
déclaré que le sort de Safiya dépend de
la décision d'une cour d'appel.
(suite lundi 14 janvier 2002)
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