Nye steningsregler i Nigeria

De nordlige delstater i Nigeria, som har indført islamisk lov, har nu givet de nye retninglinier for stening som straf.
Kvinden graves helt ned i sand, så kun hoved og hals er fri, og i modsætning til de fleste andre muslimske lande, som har genindført stening, vælger man i Nigeria, at kvindens hoved ikke tildækkes, således at hun kan se dem, der stener hende. I lande, hvor kvinden kun graves ned til bæltestedet, får hun normalt en sæk over hovedet. Nedenfor følger de nye retningslinier for stening i Nigeria:

Death by stoning in Nigeria

People on the syariah death row have emerged as pawns in a political battle for power between the Islamic north and the Christian south

When her time to die comes, convicted adulteress Amina Lawal will be buried up to her neck in sand.

When only her head remains exposed, those watching will be invited to throw stones until the 30-year-old single mother is dead.

'As they throw, they will be calling 'God is great',' court official Ibrahim Abdullahi outlines the procedure for the first in a sudden string of executions by stoning in Nigeria's northern Islamic states.

Amina is among a growing number of men and women on Nigeria's syariah death row who have emerged as pawns in a political battle for power - one that high-ranking civil and religious figures feel has gotten out of control.

The rush in the north to impose the harshest possible sentences under Islamic law - newly adopted by a dozen states - has laid bare the split between Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

The sentences have become an act of defiance by northern chiefs against President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom they accuse of neglect, and against the south, where Nigeria's economic power lies.

Southerners accuse the northern rulers of manipulating Islam to divide voters along religious lines - and to distract the people from their state governments' poor performance since military rule ended in Nigeria three years ago.

In the past month, four people have filed appeals against stoning death sentences: Amina, a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl, and a couple guilty of adultery.

But no one has been stoned to death yet in Nigeria.

Amina's case provoked an international outcry. Governments and human rights groups around the world have urged Mr Obasanjo's government to intercede.

He has said he does not believe the sentence will be carried out - but will weep for Amina if it is.

But northern state governments say protests will not make them overturn the death sentences - as they are accountable only to God.

'The Muslim has the Quran as his first constitution,' said Mr Usman Zakari Dutse, the government spokesman for Jigawa state where the child rapist has been sentenced to death. 'We don't care what international organisations say.'