Stopping Stoning Women in Nigeria: Half Way There?

1
Stopping Stoning Women in Nigeria Half Way
There?

• Ayesha Imam
• Launch of the Global Stop Killing and Stoning
  Women Campaign
• Istanbul November 26, 2007

2
Amina Lawal holds her baby Wasila in court in
Katsina, Nigeria, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003. AP
Photo/Schalk van Zuydam

3
Amina Lawal was convicted of adultery in March
2002 and sentenced to stoning to death. In the
wake of a new Sharia Penal Code in Katsina State,
religious right vigilantes instigated a case of
zina against her, on the evidence that she had
had a child after divorce without remarrying.
The alleged father swore that he had not had
sexual relations with her and was released. Ms.
Lawals case was immediately adopted by a
coalition of Nigerian womens and human rights
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that
provided her with lawyers, safe houses, medical
care, and emotional and financial support. She
also became the object of world attention, media
and protest campaigns. In September 2003, Amina
Lawal won her appeal in the Katsina State Sharia
Court of Appeal and was acquitted of the charge
of zina.
4
Ms. Lawals is the best known of the five cases
where women (and one man) have been convicted of
adultery and sentenced to stoning to death since
the passage of Sharia Penal Codes in several
Nigerian states in 1999 and 2000. The offence
of zina or unlawful sexual intercourse includes
both adultery, punished by stoning to death, and
fornication, punished by whipping. In some
states, men may be imprisoned also. So far,
every case has been won on appeal and the
defendants acquitted in the state Sharia Courts
of Appeal. Therefore no sentences of stoning
have been upheld or carried out. However, over
a score of fornication cases have led to
convictions, with sentences of whipping carried
out, and some men imprisoned as well as whipped.
5

• The approach of Nigerian womens and human rights
  groups (pioneered by BAOBAB for Womens Human
  Rights) has three components
• defense of those convicted under the new Sharia
  Penal Codes,
• demystifying the notion of Sharia laws, and
• working to build common platforms to defend and
  promote womens rights across diverse
  communities.

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Defense of those convicted under the new Sharia
Penal Codes (1)

• The strategy in defending those convicted under
  the new Sharia Penal Codes was to deliberately
  focus on appeals in the Sharia courts, for a
  number of reasons.
• to protect the individuals concerned, as appeals
  include a stay of execution of sentences, thereby
  buying time.
• generally held view (supported by research) that
  the higher courts, including the state Sharia
  Courts of Appeal, but especially the Federal
  Court of Appeal (sitting on Sharia), have
  historically been more fair to women than have
  lower Sharia, customary, or secular courts.
• trying to put pressure for pardons on the same
  state governors who signed the penal codes would
  have been ineffective
• even if the constitutionality of the Sharia Acts
  and Sharia Penal Codes themselves could be
  challenged successfully in the general courts,
  doing so would certainly have alienated the
  majority of the Muslim communities in Nigeria,
  given their initial support for Sharianization.

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Defense of those convicted under the new Sharia
Penal Codes (2)

• Through appealing, the use of arguments in fiqh
  would help to expose the deficiencies in the acts
  and the bias against women in their
  implementation.
• It would also promote alternative juristic views
  to the conservative positions being insisted upon
  by the religious right and conservatives as the
  only authentic, legitimate position in Muslim
  laws.
• Although the appeals were argued in the Sharia
  court system, they drew on rights in Nigerian
  constitutional law on the grounds that the Sharia
  Penal Codes and the Sharia courts themselves are
  governed by the Nigerian Constitution.
• An acquittal, unlike a pardon, indicates that no
  conviction should have been made and thus is a
  vindication of the person wrongly convicted.
• to demonstrate that people have a right to
  appeal and to challenge injustices, including
  those perpetrated in the name of religion.
• Therefore, in defense of those convicted under
  the Sharia Penal Codes, NGOs came together to
  support victims through the appeals. These began
  with BAOBAB for Womens Human Rights and its
  supporting legal strategy team and include the
  Coalition for the Protection of Womens Rights in
  Secular, Customary and Religious Laws (sixty
  NGOs) and the Sharia Stakeholders Group (18 NGOs
  and individuals).

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Demystifying Muslim Laws (Sharia)

• Explaining that Sharia is not divine but merely
  religious and is neither uniform nor unchanging.
• Critiquing the class- and gender-bias in content
  and implementation.
• The poor have been the most subjected to harsh
  punishments.
• White collar crime treated more leniently.
• There have been fewer convictions of men than of
  women for zina. Moreover, men convicted of
  violent sexual offenses, like rape and sexual
  assault, have received less severe punishments,
  despite the stronger punishments available in the
  Sharia Penal Codes that are routinely meted out
  for consensual sex outside marriage.
• Women have clearly been discriminated against.
  Judges have ignored or dismissed womens
  allegations of rape and coercion in zina cases.
  Charges of adultery/fornication brought against
  women used different and discriminatory standards
  of evidence than those used for men that of
  pregnancy outside marriage.
• Bringing this information and criticism to public
  discussion debunks the claim that any critique of
  Sharianization is tantamount to being anti-Islam.
  It also lays the basis for the demand for
  demanding reform of the Sharia Acts and Sharia
  Penal Codes, instead of accepting conservative
  and retrograde versions.

9
Working Together to Defend Womens Rights

• It is important, in a diverse multi-ethnic and
  multi-religious state like Nigeria to work across
  communities, as well as within Muslim
  communities.
• the Coalition for Protection of Womens Rights
  in Secular, Customary and Religious Laws and the
  Sharia Stakeholders Group include national NGOs
  and smaller regionally based NGOs from different
  parts of the country womens and human rights
  NGOs and activists Muslims, Christians, and
  others
• They work together on the zina cases, and on
  other cases where culture and tradition are
  used to violate womens rights and justify
  violence against women.

10
Effects of these strategies (1)

• The judgment in Ms. Lawals case is important,
  adding to the prior successful appeals. Although
  it sets a precedent only in Katsina State, the
  definitions of zina are exactly the same in the
  twelve states with new Sharia Penal Codes, which
  should make it difficult to ignore. The majority
  position was sweeping, accepting almost every
  single ground of the appeal.
• The Katsina State Sharia Court of Appeal
  expressly departed from the dominant view of the
  Maliki School by holding that pregnancy outside
  of marriage is not evidence of zina thus
  confirming the arguments of the activists on the
  existence and permissibility of diversity in
  Muslim jurisprudence.
• confessions need to be voluntary and repeated and
  that
• confessions can be withdrawn at any point right
  up to the commencement of the sentence.
• In so doing, the court implied that the
  prosecution needed to provide proof in the form
  of four witnesses of good character to the act of
  intercourse for women also, which is a standard
  position in Muslim jurisprudence and a difficult
  criterion to achieve

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Effects of these strategies (2)

• Within Muslim communities, many people have
  become publicly critical about the Sharia Penal
  Codes. Muslim women continue to defy the
  religious right and vigilantes by dressing as
  they see fit, going outside their homes, and
  working outside the household.
• As the appeals succeed, and none have yet been
  lost, those convicted under the new Sharia Penal
  Codes are increasingly and publicly seeking help,
  and womens rights activists no longer have
  persuade them that appealing is acceptable.
• More people are now aware of the historicity and
  culture, class, and gender specificity of
  particular provisions in Muslim laws, the
  existence of progressive alternatives, and the
  legitimacy of dissent and diversity in Muslim
  discourses. More and more Muslims are speaking up
  critically about the current Muslim laws.
• There have been no new prosecutions for adultery
  since 2003.

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Effects of these strategies (3)

• There are also hopeful developments in non-Muslim
  communities, which constitute 50-60 percent of
  Nigerias population.
• Coverage in the largely southern-based national
  press has remained critical of what has been
  happening in Sharianization, but with fewer of
  the stereotypical attitudes that could be used to
  justify further backlashes in the Muslim
  communities. - increased willingness of the
  Nigerian press to carry articles of informed
  opinion and dissent from within the Muslim
  community about Sharia law. - covered
  criticisms of Sharianization and of the religious
  right by Nigerian womens and human rights
  activists, and reported their activities in
  defending rights using more nuanced language
  For instance, in 2001 ThisDay headlined one
  story Nigerian women wins award for Anti-Sharia
  Campaign, i.e., in terms most likely to damage a
  reasoned critique of the Sharia Acts from within
  Muslim discourses. Despite protest, ThisDay did
  not apologize. However, it followed subsequently
  with articles explaining the nature of the
  campaign and with more nuanced and less
  stereotypical coverage thereafter
• A majority of Nigerian activists agree on the
  importance of communities mounting internal
  critiques of rights violations and constructing
  public debates around the nature of rights for
  all.

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The International Arena

• There were thousands of petitions in many
  languages, aimed at defending Ms. Lawal (more
  than 31,300 hits in a Google search).
• International solidarity is important to local
  rights struggles, and international campaigns and
  petitions have the potential to be spectacularly
  successful, as in the case of Zara Yacoub in
  Tchad in the mid-1990s.
• However, how solidarity is demonstrated is
  critical and must depend on the specific context.
  
• In the case of Ms. Lawal, the NGOs supporting
  their appeals felt that huge (and often
  stereotypical) media coverage and international
  petitions would not be appropriate. It seems
  that very little notice of this was taken,
  however, given the plethora of protests,
  petitions, and campaigns, not a few issued by
  international human rights organisations.
• Although the concern expressed worldwide was
  heartwarming, how it was expressed sometimes
  hindered the actual protection and defense of
  womens human rights in Nigeria

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What did not help in this case?

• The language of the petitions assumed the
  cruel, inhuman, and barbaric punishments of
  Islamic law and inherent misogyny of Islam,
  without recognising dissident views within Muslim
  communities of these norms.- legitimates the
  Religious Right to speak for all Muslims.- helps
  fuel defensiveness and backlashes in Muslim
  communities
• Several asserted quite inaccurately that the
  Supreme Court of Nigeria had upheld Ms. Lawals
  conviction and therefore that the carrying out of
  the sentence was imminent.- protests are
  generally dismissed as alarmist and uninformed-
  if it had come to that point (when a worldwide
  protest would have been useful) there might have
  been petition-fatigue
• The most widely circulated petition also included
  false claims that similar petitions had led to
  pardons in previous cases in Nigeria- implies
  that outside pressure is more important than in
  constructing local rights cultures - refuses
  credit to work of local groups in achieving
  acquittals- refuses respect to local groups in
  formulating their on-the-ground strategy
• Petitions also called for the president of
  Nigeria to veto or repeal the Sharia Acts. They
  also called on the President to pardon Ms.
  Lawal.- the Federal President has no legal
  authority to do either act.

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What international solidarity did help this case?
(1)

• WLUML respected the Nigerian groups request not
  to circulate an international alert . It used
  its networks to develop arguments that aided the
  successful appeals. WLUML also continually
  stressed and gradually convinced its partners in
  Nigeria of the need to provide information
  internationally. WLUML then helped to craft and
  disseminate such messages by posting them on its
  website.
• Similarly, when alerted to the inaccuracies and
  dangers of the petitions, the IAWJ circulated
  appeals not to support them, asked how they could
  support the defense efforts, publicized material,
  and helped raise funds to cover the legal costs
  of the defenses.
• Following BAOBABs open letter asking for a
  cessation of the international petitions, both
  the Amnesty International Secretariat and
  Amnestys US country section responded, issuing
  press releases distancing themselves from the
  petitions and supporting the local groups.
• Following the appeals not to sign onto the
  petitions, many organizations and individuals
  contacted the Nigerian defense teams to check out
  subsequent petitions.
• Several others also posted the open letters on
  their websites, thus helping to counter the
  damage done by the inaccurate petitions.

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What international solidarity did help this case?
(2)

• A few individuals and organizations sent
  donations to support the work.
• Throughout, sensitively written letters helped to
  move discussion forward e.g. Hajiya Aisha Ismail,
  then Minister for Womens Affairs, remarked how
  helpful she had found a letter from Shirkat Gah
  (a Pakistani womens NGO) in her remonstrances
  with the Governor of Zamfara State over Bariya
  Magazu (the first whipping case)
• Many people responded to the early appeal to help
  craft arguments and provide material on zina and
  the successes and failures of strategies and
  tactics in other countries.
• These examples of international solidarity were
  not uncritical however, they relied on dialogue
  and negotiation when there were disagreements
  over analysis and strategy ? and some shifts of
  both local and international strategy and policy
  did take place.

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Half Way There? Strategies for Moving Forward

• There have been no stonings. There have been no
  more prosecutions for adultery (stoning
  sentences).
• BUT
• There continue to be prosecutions for fornication
  often with sentences carried out before
  defendants are aware of their right to appeal
  and/or have legal representation.
• The laws remain on the books
• There continue to be vigilante groups attempting
  to use Islam to enforce social and political
  control over women and their sexuality, including
  via violence.
• What to do?
• Theres local work to do - having established
  strong defenses against the prosecution of zina
  offences, Nigerian womens and human rights
  groups recognize the necessity of moving forward
  on reforming the laws. This requires expanding
  public education on Muslim laws, juristic
  opinions and ijtihad, and debate on the contents
  of laws. It also requires continuing the
  painstaking work of building solidarity among a
  variety of actors to develop shared
  understandings and common strategies and
  platforms for womens and human rights.

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Half Way There? Strategies for Moving Forward (2)

• Informed and respectful international solidarity
  is needed. This requires
• raising awareness of the issues globally
  considering also the commonalities of the ways in
  which religions and cultures have been used as
  pretexts to justify violence against women
  especially over womens sexuality
• Reaching out to make alliances and build bridges
  with those who oppose violence against women and
  support womens rights and autonomy
• Ensuring that this issue is taken up as a
  priority in the international community
  including the international and regional human
  rights mechanisms
• Strengthening the willingness and ability of
  local groups to negotiate with and influence the
  strategies of international organizations
• Were half-way there Lets move on and finish
  the job!