Death penalty sought as Muslims convert to Christianity

Ananova ^ | April 24, 2002 | Ananova

[grimalkin]

Nigerian Muslim prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for two men accused of converting from Islam to Christianity.

Lawali Yakubu and Ali Jafaru have been given three days to re-convert by an Islamic court judge in Mada.

They are accused of joining the Great Commission Movement, an international evangelical church with a strong following in Nigeria.

Sharia court judge Auwal Jabaka said the Koran calls for the execution of Muslims who accept another religion.

But he said it is unclear whether the state's two-year-old Shariah penal code also permits such a punishment.

Jabaka adjourned the court for three days to allow the accused to "change their minds" and convert back to Islam.

In the meantime, he called on the Zamfara government to clarify its position on the matter.

"If the law empowers me to (execute the two for converting from Islam to Christianity), I will have no hesitation in doing that," the judge said.

Yakubu and Jafaru were not represented by lawyers but were instead accompanied by fellow church members.

The two argued they had never been Muslims, but were instead members of the Magazawa, a Hausa subgroup that has long practised Christianity. The overwhelming majority of Hausas - one of Nigeria's largest tribes - are Muslim.

[The Great Satan]

Ding Dong!

Islam Calling!

[anniegetyourgun]

How long, oh Lord, before you avenge the blood of the martyrs.....

[Birdwatcher]

We all need to remember that Islam is a religion of peace. (sarcasm)

[PokeyJoe]

Islam is a religion of peace.

-bwa hahahaha-

[another cricket]

"If the law empowers me to (execute the two for converting from Islam to Christianity), I will have no hesitation in doing that," the judge said.

But how can that be? Haven’t we all heard how tolerant Islam is?

a.cricket

[Fish out of Water]

index bump

[friendly]

Islam: The Religion of Peace.

[Thundergod]

Islam(planes into buildings, slit women's throats and sexually mutilate little girls) is a religion of peace. Just keep repeating that until you are disarmed before them and murdered.

The civilized world had better wake up and get as serious about our survival as the seventh-century savages are about our annihilation!

[FITZ]

Poor Cat Stevens. He was in the habit of changing his religion every so often......he can't change anymore!

[InvisibleChurch]

sorry, auwal, you can't win...come join The Lord

Revelation 6:9-11 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

[Savage Beast]

What these poor benighted Muslim theocracies need is massive apostasy--and massive inundation by Christian missionaries.

[InvisibleChurch]

and now time out for a golden oldie...

A Shiite Muslim woman holds a three-year old boy whose forehead was cut during a ceremony in Nabatiyeh on Sunday March 24, 2002. Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims turned out across Lebanon on Sunday to mark Ashoura, the Shiite Muslim religious festival which marks the AD 680 battle in which Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, was killed. (AP Photo)

[bjcintennessee]

So where is amnesty international, the red cross and all those other human rights groups??? Oh, I forget, they are all down at Gitmo making certain our soldiers are bowing at the feet of terrorists.

[swarthyguy]

Questions for Rumsfeld -Why did you ever make it (gitmo and prisoners) public?
-Why are we feeding them a fresh lamb feast on eid?
-Why are their beards and heads not shaved?
-Why are they allowed the Koran? They get their spiritual sustenance from this book...We would not have allowed Nazi POW's access to MeinKampf. Dream Scenario:: They are guarded by the women of the WWF -- they won't know whether to be turned on or scared. Rottweilers and Dobermans roaming the immediate perimeter; for a change allow a few rutting hogs every few nights. Food: PulledPorksandwiches and KeystoneLight beer. Keep them incommunicado so they cannot talk to each other; if necessary blast LOUD rocknroll at them so they cannot hear each other! -

[swarthyguy]

What a happy kid!

[JeepInMazar]

Even in the most democratic, tolerant forms of Islam the penalty of one who leaves Islam is death. There are different words for apostate in Islamic law. One who leaves Islam is called a murtad and a murdad should be killed, according to Islamic law. This is a very clear point in Islam, the religion of peace.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Sort of like the Inquisition did with relapsed Conversos. Spanish Jews and Moslems forced to convert to Christianity who were suspected of keeping Jewish or Moslem traditions were subject to the death penalty under Philip II. There's no monolopy on idiocy.

[Floratina]

Gee, I wonder where Amnesty International is on this?

[Post Toasties]

This policy of Islamic governments should be universally protested and condemned, particularly by non Islamic governments, human rights and civil rights groups.

Any criminal penalty for converting to a religion other than Islam is not compatible with modern juridical concepts, human rights or religious freedom.