No respite for Nigeria stoning couple

Amina Lawal had a child outside marriage

By Dan Isaacs BBC, Abuja

A Nigerian couple is to remain in jail, convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.

A bail hearing on Tuesday was adjourned at which their lawyers were hoping to get Fatima Usman and her alleged lover, Ahmadu Ibrahim, released pending an appeal.

The couple was not brought from jail in the northern state of Niger for the hearing, nor are they aware of the severe punishment they are facing.

This is the latest in a series of judgments handed out by Islamic or Sharia courts in Nigeria and which have provoked concern amongst human rights groups around the world.

Nigeria's northern states have introduced Islamic punishments into the criminal code over the past three years.

Pressure

In that time, at least five death-by-stoning sentences have been passed, none of which has yet been carried out.

This is in large measure due to the pressure being put on Nigeria by foreign governments and human rights groups.

Women's rights groups say Sharia is unfair to women

But defence lawyers are increasingly concerned that it is only a matter of time before one of the majority Muslim northern states decides to carry out such a sentence.

This latest case involves a couple originally imprisoned for the offence of adultery.

But at an appeal hearing, the judge imposed the death sentence, arguing that the earlier court had used the wrong penal code to try the case.

The woman, Fatima Usman, has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, allegedly fathered by the man, Ahmed Ibrahim, outside marriage.

Pregnant

Both are currently in jail serving the earlier five-year sentence.

The court has set a new date of 22 October for the bail hearing.

According to Fatima's lawyers, she is not only very unwell, but also now eight months pregnant with another child, this time by her former husband from whom she is now divorced.

More than any other, this case highlights the concerns of human rights activists that such cases have been poorly handled by the Islamic courts.

The lawyer who will represent Fatima and Ahmed at the bail hearing, Hauwa Ibrahim, said on Tuesday that not only were the couple not present in the courtroom for the trial, but that more than a month later, they have not been informed of the verdict.

Nigeria's central government has said it is opposed to such sentences being carried out, but says it has no powers to intervene in judgments handed down by Islamic courts in the north of the country.