Pregnant Nigerian teen appeals stoning sentence
Dass , Nigeria – A pregnant Nigerian teenager appeared before an Islamic court on Oct. 28th to hear her lawyer launch an appeal against her conviction for adultery.
Earlier this month she was sentenced to death by stoning.
Hajara Ibrahim sat quietly in a makeshift cubicle yesterday, shielded from the gaze of onlookers peering through the windows of the simple, one-storey hall housing the
Her lawyer argued that the October 8 judgment was invalid because 18-year-old Hajara had not consummated her marriage before sleeping with her boyfriend and conceiving a child, and was thus innocent of the capital crime of adultery.
“With these arguments we pray to God to quash the lower court’s judgment and acquit the accused,” Abdulkadir Suleiman told the hearing, as Hajara’s father and her lover looked on.
“What we are saying is that sharia should be implemented properly as prescribed by Islam and devoid of any doubt.”
Judge Mohammed Mustafa Umar agreed to study the evidence and adjourned the court to November 10.
If Hajara can be considered an unmarried virgin, then she is guilty of fornication and could escape with 100 lashes of a cane.
She is the latest young woman to be swept up into northern Nigeria ‘s stumbling five-year-old attempt to replace the poorly administered secular criminal justice system with Islam’s strict sharia law. – Sapa
