Nigerian divorcee Hajara Ibrahim sentenced to death by stoning because of her pregnancy.

Frankfurt/M. - 15 October 2004. At the beginning of October, a Sharia court in the city of Marivan in Iran sentenced 14-year old Zhila to death by stoning because she had sexual contact with her 13-year old brother. The girl could be stoned within the next month, if the verdict is not overturned. In the north-Nigerian federal state of Bauchi, two single women were sentenced to death by stoning for extramarital sexual intercourse. Currently, 35-year old Nigerian Yunusa Rafin-Chiyava is the only male ISHR knows of against whom a stoning verdict was pronounced. He had a extramarital relationship with the wife of a friend. ISHR once again calls for a reinvigorated effort to overcome cruel forms of punishment, which include inter alia stoning, crucifixion, amputation and beatings.

After the Iranian girl had become pregnant, thus revealing the relationship between brother and sister, both were arrested. Both are still in detention. Meanwhile, the child was born and is being raised in an orphanage. The 14-year old Zhila was sentenced to death by stoning. It has a yet not been confirmed whether the 13-year old boy has received a sentence. The verdict is controversial in Iran. Many Iranians do not understand the harshness against the girl. Although incest is a crime which according to Islamic law must be punished by death, many Iranians consider the protection of children to be of higher priority than fulfilling Islamic obligations.

The 29-year old Nigerian divorcee Hajara Ibrahim was sentenced to death by stoning by a sharia court in Lere, province of Tafava Baleva in the federal state of Bauchi. The Reason for the prosecution was her pregnancy. At the same time, the court released 35-year old Dauda Sani who had been named as the father of the child by Hajara Ibrahim. Apparently there was not sufficient evidence against him. When announcing the verdict, the judge of the sharia court, Abubakar Bello, said that the defendant had confessed to have had sexual intercourse with Dauda Sani several times after he had promised to marry her. However, the he later ended their relationship. According to the sharia court, the extramarital sexual intercourse, as proven by the pregnancy, breaks sharia law. It must therefore be punished with death by stoning. The execution is to be carried out as soon as the child is weaned. In contrast, the alleged father Dauda Sani had denied any responsibility and said that he did not know the woman. The judge reiterated that the verdict has to be confirmed by the Governor, Adamu Mu'azu. The 26-year old Daso Adamu, also divorced, was sentenced to death by stoning on 15 September in a Sharia court in Shingi, also in the federal state of Bauchi. She was accused of having had a sexual relationship with a 35-year old man.

These are the first new cases reported since the two Nigerian women Safiya Hussaini and Amina Lawal were saved from stoning after their case caught the attention of the outside world. However, ISHR believes that there are more sentences being passed in more remote and rural areas and that some stoning verdicts possibly have already taken place. ISHR calls upon the world community to try to stop the execution of the Iranian girl and the other convicts, to calls for the immediate overturning of the verdicts and to fight for the elimination of the stoning paragraph from the Sharia criminal code in states which allow the stoning as a form of punishment including Iran and Nigeria. Safiya Hussaini and Amina Lawal are living proof that victims of stoning convictions can be rescued from the execution of the sentence. The legal interpretation of Islamiic law allows for many possibilities and a broad variety of alternative solutions.

To kill a human being with stones is a regression into barbarity, to kill a child is illegal and laws that provide for such punishments need to be changed.