CJ - what happened to woman in your petition?

[darkness]

????

[CJ01]

what petition`?

[franki]

The Amnesty International (I believe it was) Petition .. from Mobley ..

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AMINA LAWAL SET TO BE STONED ON - 27 AUGUST 2003

The Nigerian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Amina Lawal, condemned for the crime of adultery on August 19th 2002, to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death. Her death was postponed so that she could continue to nurse her baby. Hearing on her Execution is now set for 27 AUGUST 2003.

If you haven\'t been following this case, you might like to know that Amina\'s baby is regarded as the \'evidence\' of her adultery. Amina\'s case is being handled by the Australian branch of Amnesty International, which is attempting to put together enough signatures to make the Nigerian government rescind the death sentence. A similar campaign saved another Nigerian woman, Safiya, condemned in similar circumstances. By March 4th the petition had amassed over 2,600,000 signatures. It will only take you a few seconds to sign Amnesty\'s online petition. Please click on the URL below and sign the petition now.

Go to the web page
http://www.amnesty.org.au/e-card/petition.asp (\"http://www.amnesty.org.au/e-card/petition.asp\")


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[CJ01]

oh right, I don´t know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif I hope all this helped somehow

[Elana]

I have done numerous searches and belong to several Jewish rights groups that follow this story and can\'t find any updated information. I am assuming that she is still alive. This was/is big news and I am pretty certain that we would have read about it if she was stoned to death the other day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif My email would have been full of news about her.

[ccbythesea]

Thankfully she\'s been granted a hearing for an appeal but the appeal won\'t be heard until 9/25.

CC

[darkness]

that is a good thing that it will take a month.

[Sagacious1420]

Hi All-

I have a Hungarian friend who has been following this case for awhile and she sent me the following info. It appears that the 27th was the trial date and not the date of the actual execution. I\'ll keep you posted as I get more info.



Nigeria: Amina Lawal\'s appeal case to be heard on 27 August

After several adjournments, the hearing of Amina Lawal\'s appeal is due to take place on 27 August 2003 in her home state of Katsina, northern Nigeria. Amina Lawal and her lawyers are expected to be present at the hearing. The judicial process should follow its course if the quorum of judges is met this time.

Amnesty International continues to receive queries falsely claiming that Amina Lawal\'s execution is imminent - before or on 27 August - and referring to Amnesty International as a source.

No execution of the sentence is due before or on that date.

Amnesty International understands that Amina Lawal\'s right to legal representation and her right to appeal are guaranteed at this stage. She is not in detention and has good legal representation. She is also being supported by a coalition of Nigerian women\'s groups and human rights groups. Amnesty International is in close touch with these organizations.

\"Unfortunately, this case has now been adjourned so many times that many of those who have campaigned for her sentence to be quashed cannot understand why a woman and her child can be put under so much duress. This is becoming a clear case of justice delayed is justice denied,\" Amnesty International said.

Background
Amina Lawal -- a Muslim woman -- was found guilty by a court in March 2002 after bearing a child outside marriage. Under \"Sharia Penal Legislations\" now in force in several northern Nigerian states, this was sufficient for her to be convicted of the crime of adultery and summoned to appear before a Sharia tribunal to respond to a \"crime\" which now carries a punishment of death by stoning according to new \"Sharia penal legislations\" introduced in Nigeria in 1999.

[Elana]

Thanks for the update

[Sagacious1420]

You\'re welcome! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I really haven\'t been in touch w/ Monika since we broke up last spring. I just found out that she\'s back in the US again, so hopefully we\'ll have a chance to \"chat\" more frequently. It was kind of a fluke hearing from her. She was in my address book when I forwarded the petition link to my peeps. So we\'re back in touch again. I\'ll let you know what I know, when I know it...or something like that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[EXIT63]

What do you expect!?

[Elana]

One of the groups that I belong to emailed me this article today...

August 28, 2003, 4:00 p.m.
Sirens Over Africa
Where there are stonings, there is jihad.

By Paul Marshall



On August 27, Amina Lawal, a 32-year-old Nigerian single mother, sat in an Islamic sharia court in Katsina state in northern Nigeria and nursed her two-year-old daughter, Wasila. Wasila had been born over nine months after Amina was divorced and, in Nigeria\'s Islamic courts, this is taken to be prima facie evidence that Amina committed adultery.

If her appeal of this conviction is denied, she will be buried up to her chest, and the surrounding throng will throw stones at her until she is dead. The stones used must not be so small that they will inflict no damage, nor so large that they will kill her too quickly. She must die slowly and painfully in front of the crowd.

Of course, in any adultery case, there must also be a man involved, and Amina testified that she had not willingly committed adultery but had been raped. However, to convict a man of rape, Nigeria\'s sharia courts usually require that there be four male Muslim witnesses. Though the courts are not yet clear on this, it may be (following precedent in other Islamist jurisdictions such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan) that up to eight male non-Muslim witnesses, or 16 female non-Muslim witnesses, would also suffice for the conviction of a male Muslim. However, since Nigerian adulterers and rapists &amp;#8212; like those in other parts of the world &amp;#8212; do not usually perform in front of crowds, the man has been acquitted, and Amina and her daughter stand alone.

She is one of five women who have been so charged, though none has yet been executed. Thanks to the international attention their cases attracted, other luckless women have had their sentences deferred, or dismissed on technical grounds. In Amina\'s case, the appeals court has deferred judgment until September 25.

Yet, terrible as is Amina\'s plight, her situation is but a symptom of a larger problem afflicting Nigeria and other African nations. Nigeria &amp;#8212; along with Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa &amp;#8212; is subject to major campaigns by radical Islamists to spread their ideology. The country is, as was repeatedly emphasized by Osama bin Laden, an explicit target for Islamic extremists, often funded by the Saudis. When extreme sharia was introduced in Nigeria in 1999, Saudi, Pakistani, and Palestinian representatives gathered to express their support.

When radical Islam gains a foothold, stonings, amputations, and religious executions follow. But the effects are even wider than these barbarities. In such regimes, questioning the government is effectively equated with questioning God. Since extremists maintain that their laws and rulers are authorized directly by God without any human mediation, any political opposition is, by definition, blasphemy, and thus punishable by death.

Thus the victory of radical Islam, even when it is won peacefully, necessarily leads to the defeat of democracy, of any republican virtues, and of any human rights.

Nigeria is important to America because it lies at the heart of the fastest-growing oil region in the world. Its offshore regions lie at the center of American exploration. Its eastern neighbor, Cameroon, hosts a massive oil pipeline from its northern neighbor, Chad.

Nigeria is also at the heart of U.S. political hopes for West Africa. Its troops are meant eventually to supplant American Marines in Liberia and to maintain peace among its other neighbors, such as Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. But if Nigeria succumbs to radical Islam or, more likely, becomes a chaotic and failed state, it will effectively become the regional center for the export of an anti-democratic and anti-American ideology. Since its introduction three years ago, 10,000 people have died in Nigeria under the rule of sharia law.

Amina Lawal\'s fate is rightfully important to human-rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, but it should also be a warning sign to conservative realists. It both marks and measures the growth of an ideology antithetical to genuine freedom.

Hard-headed international-relations theorists regard Africa as largely irrelevant to America\'s interests, and the possibility of Nigerian international terrorism seems remote. But the possibility of now-rampant Filipino and Indonesian terrorism also looked remote a few years ago.

In fact, the example of other countries in the Middle East, in Africa, and in Asia suggests a good empirical guide, one rooted in the very nature of their regimes: Where women get stoned for adultery, anti-Americanism and terrorism will appear. If we fail to oppose radical Islam in Africa now, our overstretched troops may well have to do so a few years from now.

&amp;#8212; Paul Marshall is the author of Islam at the Crossroads and God and the Constitution: Christianity and American Politics. Marshall is reachable through www.benadorassociates.com. (\"http://www.benadorassociates.com.\")

[Elana]

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What do you expect!?

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Seriously /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Not even slightly shocking....but typical

[darkness]

i know this is nationalist, but these countries are not even civilizations. any group that would do that are simply are barbiarians, with not a human bone in their body.

the united nations are interpol are PSSIESSSSSSSSSSS and we need to disassociate ourselves with them.

[CJ01]

The UN is a good thing. If it weren´t for the UN we´d have even more sh*t happening. Sadly one or two countries who are ( important) members won´t play by the rules because they think they´re superior or something.

You´re right though some things, like this extreme sexism ( in a case like this ) and other what ever you wanna call them are so .. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif .. I can´t even find the words for it, you really question whether these people are civilized or not.

But we also have a lot of injustice going on in every one of our own countries too and the US still approve of capital punishment also. There´s too much injustice no matter where you look - it´s really tragic /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

BTW in a case like this the UN is not allowed to interfere on little bit!! Luckily there´s something like AI who take action on behalf of some people at least.

[darkness]

the UN can do whatever it wants to do. Whether they have rules or not about not being able to interfere with a country\'s laws is their fault.

When a woman needs four muslin witnesses just for a government to believe she was raped, you know their is something plainly wrong with the societal values.

an important purpose of having a world organization such as the UN is making sure government\'s keep their values in check. I know there is some danger in that, but when something is so grossly immoral, the world should have a right to change things using any means necessary.

Those who stand by and don\'t do anything when they have the ability to stop injustice are just as guilty as the catalyst.

The UN does not want to embody what it should. Any UN official who wants to talk about not interferring with a society\'s values should talk to the woman who was raped and now will get slowly stoned to death publicly because of this.

[CJ01]

You´re right. On the other hand if it weren´t for this particular UN article, the UN would never have existed in the first place. The USA, nor the UK would be part of the UN that´s for sure! Mind you seeing as they don´t give a toss anyway...you know.

I reckon the only way or should I say the most effective way in the long term to get a country to stop this kind of sh*t is that this change needs to come from inside from the people who are there - population and government. And I agree that the rest of the world could do a little more than it does. But that also applies to loads of other issues.

What do you think? How would you try to change these morons´ minds?

[darkness]

it is difficult when countries are run by the voice, money and power of a small part of the nation.

Evening out the distribution of wealth wouldn\'t hurt as well as injecting outside views into the countr\'s sentiment. That means foriegn investment, and also making foriegn education available to people within the country. When people can see there is another way, it does help change things.

But all that can be idealistic. It is like if you are parenting a kid. You can have a way you want to do things, but sometimes you just have to use your power and be an [censored] dictator for the sake of protecting them.

[Elana]

Nice post Darkness. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[darkness]

Nice abs elana /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Number0]

Amina Lawal: Sharia Court Begins Hearing of Appeal

http://allafrica.com/stories/200308290862.html (\"http://allafrica.com/stories/200308290862.html\")

[EXIT63]

Blah Blah Blah

When will the world wake up and smell the freakin coffee already.

The answer is really quite simple.

Convert to islam or die!

What\'s the problem?!

[Elana]

I love you, Exit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[EXIT63]

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I love you, Exit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Elana]

You are like the only one here that really gets it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[EXIT63]

gets what?



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Elana]

Shad ap, you! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Exit....why don\'t you post that joke I PMed you the other day? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[EXIT63]

I would probably get banned for that one...What would you do without me!?

[CJ01]

Okay, just tell me then /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif