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A PLEA from Mackie Blanton
As some of you may have heard, a Nigerian woman was recently sentenced to death--for having a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by STONING. She is to be buried up to her neck in the ground, after which her punishers will surround her and throw rocks at her head until her skull is crushed and she dies a painful and horrible death.
Surely, we must all feel equal shock and disgust at this sentence, and we need to remember that she has only thirty days to appeal her trial.
Please go to the Amnesty International site at
http://www.mertonai.org/amina/ and sign the letter addressed to the President of Nigeria. It literally takes only a minute, and could help to save her life, as well as help put an end to this kind of cruel and disgraceful judgment in a country that calls itself a democracy.
Societies that sanction to death women who have been raped, or abandonned by a lover, often view the man as the victim--as a victim to
women's wiles, as if men are driven beserk beyond their own moral control by the face or body of a woman. Such societies therefore reason that a woman's presence must be snuffed from the face of the earth. We must speak from our own moral outrage against such stupidity and ignorance.
Get the word out! Pass this on! Back in October 2001, 35-year old Safiya
Hussaini was condemned to death, by stoning, for allegedly
committing adultery. International outcry led by Amnesty
International ( the Merton Amnesty Group campaigned for Safiya -
see campaign
archive) helped save her life; she was acquitted on
technical grounds by an appeal court.
Now 30-year old Amina Lawal faces the same
death sentence. Amina Lawal was sentenced to death by stoning by
a Regional Court in Katsina State, Nigeria for having a child
outside marriage. Her sentence was announced on 23 March 2002,
three days before the day of Safiya's acquittal.
Amina Lawal's Case - Her Trial and
Sentence
When unmarried, Amina became pregnant. Local
villagers had her arrested and she was brought before a Regional
Court where she was charged with the crime of adultery Like
Safiya, she had no legal representation and there are serious
questions about whether the nature of the charges was adequately
explained to her.
Under the Katsina regional law, admitting to
having a baby amounts to a confession to the crime of adultery.
As in the case of Safiya Hussaini, the man identified as Amina's
partner--the alleged father of her baby daughter-- was released.
The court said there was insufficient evidence against him.
For him to be convicted, he must either
confess, or four other men must testify that they witnessed the
adultery.
With the help of a Nigerian women's rights
group, Amina has appealed against the sentence. After several
adjournments, the appeal was rejected on Monday, August
19. A new appeal at a higher court has been lodged.
Victims of Poverty
Like Safiya, Amina comes from an impoverished
background. Both were married in their early teens (12 and 14
respectively) only to be divorced at a later stage and left to
raise their children by themselves.
The softly spoken and largely unschooled
Lawal told AFP that her main worries were the strain the case
was putting on her parents and what would happen to her baby
daughter Wasila if she is put to death.
Women's and Human Rights organizations in
Nigeria have already highlighted the emerging pattern of people
from poor backgrounds - particularly women - being the victims
of cruel, inhumane and discriminatory sentences introduced by
Regional laws in the states of northern Nigeria.
Amina's Fundamental Human Rights
In Nigeria, laws can be introduced by
Regional States which may be contrary to Federal Nigerian Law.
Under the Regional Law of Katsina State, a death sentence can be
imposed on any man or woman who has sex outside of marriage.
Under Federal Nigerian law, Amina has the
right to have her life and personal dignity respected. This
right is enshrined in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which
confirms the sanctity of human life. This right is also recognized
by all the international and regional human rights declarations
and conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.
These cases created a political storm in
Nigeria. The Nigerian Federal Government recognizes that laws
which discriminate against women are unacceptable, and that the
death penalty is inhumane and inappropriate.
A week before Safiya's acquittal the Federal
Minister of Justice wrote to Regional authorities to declare
that these penalties are a contravention of the Nigerian
constitution.
However, the Nigerian Constitution also
protects individual States - such as Katsina State- from
interference by the Nigerian Federal Government. Leaders of the
Northern states have yet to respond in a positive manner to the
Federal government's declaration.
Early hopes that the close alliance between
Federal Government and the Governor of Katsina State would
result in a positive outcome for Amina were dashed recently. A
spokesperson for the Katsina State authorities, Ibrahim
Abdullahi, said that the Governor would not intefere in the
appeal process, and predicted that if the appeal was turned
down, Amina Lawal would be executed.
"If the appeal court confirms her as
guilty, she will be executed," he said.
This will entail burying Amina up to
her waist and stoning her until she is dead.
What can YOU do to help
At this critical stage, it is of crucial
importance to build on the successful campaign that saved Safiya.
It is vital that the Nigerian Federal
Government is given support to fulfill its human rights
commitments.
People from all round the world can play
their part in encouraging Nigeria to do the right thing: to end
inhumane and cruel sentences in its territory and to ensure
human rights for all Nigerians.
| You can help make a difference by encouraging the Nigerian
government to focus on delivering its pledges to its own people and to
the international community by writing to both the Nigerian and U.K.
politicians.
Amina Lawal with her baby daughter Wasila (c)BBC |
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered
the World and Threatened Civilization as We Know It
By H. W. Brands
In Greenback Planet, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands charts the dollar's astonishing rise to become the world's principal currency. Telling the story with the verve of a novelist, he recounts key episodes in U.S. monetary history, from the Civil War debate over fiat money (greenbacks) to the recent worldwide financial crisis. Brands explores the dollar's changing relations to gold and silver and to other currencies and cogently explains how America's economic might made the dollar the fundamental standard of value in world finance. He vividly describes the 1869 Black Friday attempt to corner the gold market, banker J. P. Morgan's bailout of the U.S. treasury, the creation of the Federal Reserve, and President Franklin Roosevelt's handling of the bank panic of 1933. Brands shows how lessons learned (and not learned) in the Great Depression have influenced subsequent U.S. monetary policy, and how the dollar's dominance helped transform economies in countries ranging from Germany and Japan after World War II to Russia and China today. He concludes with a sobering dissection of the 2008 world financial debacle, which exposed the power--and the enormous risks--of the dollar's worldwide reign. The Economy |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
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1975
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1985
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update 6
December 2011 |
