Flogging of Bariya Bagaza
URGENT ACTION
Message from Inter-Church Coalition on Africa:
This case has become well known in Canada, the Globe and Mail has given extensive coverage. Our government has raised the issue with the Nigerian government; so far no other government has as far as we know. Stephen Lewis formerly of UNICEF has spoken out on it, since the woman is only 17 years old. And a congregation in Victoria has offered to sponsor her to come to Canada!
There are 3 items here:
1. an earlier story from Agence French press
2. a letter written by Ruth Evans of Toronto to Nigerian authorities
3. an official letter from the Coordinator of ICCAF, Gary Kenny, suggesting actions to take.
Time is now very short but please try to communicate your popsition on this human rights issue.
Gail Turner
Program Assistant Justice Ministries
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
gturner@presbyterian.ca
416-441-1111 x 250
1-800-619-7301 x 250
Fax: 416-441-2825
Pregnant girl, sentenced to 180 lashes, due to give birth - 12/06/2000 Agence France-Presse
TSAFE, Nigeria, Dec 6 (AFP) - A pregnant 17-year-old girl sentenced by an Islamic court here to 180 lashes for pre-marital sex will give birth within days, her family was told Wednesday.
Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, told the court here in September she had been pressured into having sex with three middle-aged men from her village who were associates of her father. The girl produced seven witnesses who agreed to her claims. But the court said she had not provided enough proof and found her guilty of sex before marriage and making unproven allegations against the men.
The girl's family was told Wednesday she was due to give birth within a couple of days and was expected to receive her punishment between 40 days and two months later. She was not allowed to speak to the reporter but nodded when asked if she was fearful of the sentence.
Idris Usman Gusau, the judge of the Islamic court who found the girl guilty, said the punishment would be carried out despite appeals from human rights groups.
Since Nigeria returned to civilian rule last year, nine northern states have introduced or declared plans to introduce the strict Islamic code known as the Sharia.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dorothea Hudec & Ruth Evans
Date: December 15, 2000 1:08 PM
Subject: Bariya Ibrahim Magazu's sentence to 180 lashes
Dear Chief Bola Ige, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Nigerian Federation
I am writing to you because I am appalled to read in our national newspaper, the Toronto Globe and Mail, that a seventeen year old Nigerian mother, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, has been sentenced to 180 lashes. According to many correspondents in the Globe, this will kill her, will in fact be an excruciating death by torture. Canadians have read that the sentence by a Saria court was to punish her for having sex before marriage, and she was forced into this with three associates of her father. The punishment will be forty days after the birth of her baby, due in November.
Further information from Amnesty International says that the court is in Tsafe, Zamfara State, and 100 lashes are for the premarital sex, and 80 for supposedly falsely accusing the three men. She had no counsel and was unable to produce witnesses to substantiate her claim that the three men paid to have sex with her. But we understand that the threat of being punished for slander often means that potential witnesses dare not speak up. So it is more than likely that Bariya accused the men truthfully, that they have been responsible for raping her, and that her sentence is the grossest travesty of justice. Please will you use the power of your office to enable her to appeal this sentence? We know that the Nigerian government has advised citizens whose rights have been violated to appeal to higher courts. She probably does not know this, and likely has no money or legal advice. Please, please use the power of your office to help her.
Letters in the Globe and Mail have stated that no one, least of all a young woman, can survive 180 lashes. The punishment is in effect a sentence to an agonising bloody death. But Nigeria has signed the United Nations human rights treaties which prohibit torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. If Nigeria is to be considered a member of the civilised community of nations, you must commute this sentence. Please let us in Canada know what action you have taken. It will be reported in the national press.
Yours respectfully,
Ruth Evans
Official Letter from the Coordinator of ICCAF, Gary Kenny, suggesting actions to take.
Dear Working Group on Nigeria colleagues,
Below is ICCAF's letter to Nigerian authorities concerning the case of Bariya Bagaza. Apparently the date of her possibly fatal flogging is imminent. If you haven't already, please write your own letters calling for her sentence to be commuted. Consult Amnesty International's web site for additional information. The addresses of the four authorities to whom AI recommends sending letters is included following the ICCAF letter:
Gary Kenny
December 21, 2000
Chief Bola Ige Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Ministry of Justice Abuja, Federal Capital Territory Nigeria
Fax: 234-9-53-5208
Dear Chief Ige,
I am writing concerning the case of Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, a young woman who has been sentenced by an Islamic court in Zamfara State to a possibly fatal flogging for having premarital sex.
Amnesty International and other groups in Nigeria and abroad have documented the details of the case. We understand that Miss Bagaza testified in court in September and that she was forced by her father into having sexual relations with three of his associates. Miss Magaza named three male witnesses who could corroborate her story but they declined to testify, possibly out of fear of legal or other action against them. We understand the sentence to include a total of 180 lashes -- 100 for the premarital sex and 80 for supposedly falsely accusing the three men. We also note that Miss Bagaza had no legal counsel and probably had no financial means to secure a lawyer. Under these circumstances, its seems quite plausible that Miss Magaza was unjustly convicted and sentenced.
Even if Miss Bagaza were guilty of having premarital sex, physical punishment for such an act under the terms of Sharia law, as such law is interpreted in Zamfara, is a violation of international human rights law and constitutes torture. Allowing the sentence to be carried out would place the federal state of Nigeria in violation of international covenants to which it is a party, including the International Covenant on the Prevention of Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment. Implicit in the case is also a strong element of discrimination against Miss Bagaza because of her gender. We also remind you that Nigeria is a party to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Therefore, you have an obligation to use your offices to overturn Miss Bagaza's sentence on at least two counts: because the conviction is so obviously unjust, and because flogging is a cruel and inhuman act as defined by the same body of international law that Nigeria pledged to respect and uphold.
Overturning Miss Bagaza's sentence will demonstrate that Nigeria is continuing to take its place among the community of civilized nations. If the sentence is carried out, and Zamfara State authorities continue to mete out such heinous punishments as amputations and flogging, international censure of your government will grow. This can only result in an erosion of the international community's confidence in and support for Nigeria and its leaders. This would be a shame, especially given Nigeria's valiant efforts at nation building so far.
We trust that you will find a way to respond positively to this and the many other similar appeals we know you have received from around the world.
Yours sincerely,
Gary Kenny, Coordinator
Copies:
- His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Sani, State Governor Government House Husua, Zamfara State, Nigeria
- Alhaji Ibrahim Okala, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General Government House Husua, Zamfara State, Nigeria
- Alhaji Sule Lamido, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abuja, Nigeria
- Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada Ottawa, Ontario