Italians Protest Nigerian Death by Stoning Sentence

HUNDREDS of people demonstrated outside the Nigerian embassy in Rome on Wednesday to protest against a sentence of death by stoning passed by an Islamic court in Nigeria against a woman accused of adultery.

Safiya Husaini (35) was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery last year in Sokoto in Northern Nigeria. She insists that she never committed adultery, but was in fact raped. Her case is currently pending appeal.

"We hope that some good will come out of this affair and we think that the execution will not take place," said Enrico Pianetta, the chairman of the Italian parliamentary commission into human rights.

Among the protestors was Alessandra Mussolini, a deputy for the far-right National Alliance and granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, the Italian wartime fascist leader. She called for the European Union to intervene in the affair.

Nigerian to Appeal Death by Stoning

Amid International Outrage, Nigerian Woman Appeals Ruling of Death by Stoning for Adultery

The Associated Press

TUNGAN TUDU, Nigeria March 17 — Safiya Hussaini admits having a baby several years after divorcing her husband, but denies it was adultery the crime that has made her the first person sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law implemented in a dozen northern Nigerian states.

"People think that because I am poor I cannot defend myself. They are wrong," the mother of five told The Associated Press on the eve of her appeal Monday before a court of Muslim elders in the northern Nigerian city of Sokoto.

In the October judgment, an Islamic court ruled that Hussaini should be stoned to death while buried up to her waist in sand for committing adultery with a married neighbor.

Under Islamic law in Sokoto, adultery is punishable by death.

The case is stirring outrage well beyond this troubled West African nation, where opposition to the imposition of Islamic law, or Shariah, in the north has resulted in Muslim-Christian violence that has killed thousands since early 2000. International rights organizations, women's groups and European Union parliamentarians have all condemned the ruling.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's government, rights groups and other well-wishers have provided Hussaini with a dozen lawyers.

Donations of rice, blankets and baby's clothing have flooded in from around the globe.

As a result, for the first time, Hussaini, who is 35 years old but whose wizened face and calloused hands make her appear much older, has enough food to feed her family.

Hussaini's 13-month-old girl, Adama, the product of the union that prompted authorities to charge her with adultery, is small for her age and stares feebly at strangers while nursing weakly. The child is frequently ill and coughs violently at night, Hussaini says.

Under the October ruling, which has been placed on hold pending her appeal, Hussaini could be executed as soon as her child stops nursing.

Hussaini initially argued she was innocent of adultery because she had been raped by her neighbor, Yakubu Abubakar.

However, she withdrew the rape accusation after Abubakar fled, apparently fearing arrest.

She now accuses relatives and other associates of pressuring her into making the accusation.

During a brief appearance to launch her appeal in January, Hussaini's lawyers said her ex-husband, Yusuf Ibrahim, was the father of the child.

Hussaini repeated the claim, saying the conception had occurred before they divorced "some years ago." Sokoto's Islamic law accepts arguments that conception and birth could occur up to seven years apart despite the biological improbability, her lawyers argue.

The defense hopes the appeals court will accept that argument as a face-saving device for all sides.

Sokoto's Islamic law, introduced in early 2001, requires that an alleged adulterer confess, or that at least three other witnesses testify. Prosecutors admit they have not fulfilled that requirement.

The defense has also raised questions as to the very definition of adultery, and whether it could have been committed after Hussaini had been divorced.

Increasing political pressure from within Nigeria and outside it has prompted state officials to seek a new judgment.

"Both the defense and the prosecution were not given the opportunity to articulate certain arguments," said Sokoto Information Commissioner Tahir Mai-Akwai. He declined to elaborate.

Hussaini claims she was singled out because she is "a woman and poor," an argument that rights groups have backed.

Marking International Women's Day earlier this month, Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer urged Obasanjo to overturn Hussaini's sentence, which he called "barbaric."

If the conviction is upheld, some observers warn the unintended consequences could be grave.

Islamic fundamentalists, whose influence throughout northern Nigeria has grown since Obasanjo's 1999 election ended 15 years of oppressive military rule, continue to call for Shariah to be strengthened. That's despite staunch opposition from southern and central states with Christian and animist majorities.

Following the first execution under Shariah the Jan. 3 hanging of a man convicted of murder the New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that capital punishment carried out under Shariah could touch off further religious bloodshed in Nigeria.

Nigeria, a nation of 120 million people belonging to 250 distinct ethnic groups, has long been riven by cultural and political divisions that periodically flare into violence.

Hussaini, despite the turmoil surrounding her, says if her conviction is overturned she plans to get married again to her ex-husband Ibrahim.

"I hope we can move ... and start again," she said.

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