Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon MEP has called for mercy to be shown to a Nigerian woman facing death by stoning for adultery, whose appeal outcome is due to be announced next month. Ms Scallon last night launched an e-mail campaign to raise awareness of the plight of Mrs Amina Lawal Kurami (31), who was sentenced to death by stoning last summer after an Islamic sharia law court found she had a child out of wedlock.
Mrs Kurami, a divorcee from Katsina state in northern Nigeria, was given a two-year stay on her sentence for adultery to allow her to wean her infant daughter, Wasila.
The woman has appealed her conviction to the Islamic Supreme Court, and Ms Scallon said she has received confirmation from the European Commission office in Nigeria that the court will announce its decision on March 25th.
The Connacht-Ulster MEP said she has sent an e-mail appeal to some 7,000 people in European institutions, urging them to call for the sentence to be appealed.
"I want the court to be merciful to her, she is a young mother," said Ms Scallon. "For a young mother whose only 'crime' is to have a child out of wedlock to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death is an injustice."
Ms Scallon said she did not wish to interfere in the Nigerian justice system, but was merely calling for mercy.
She said the European Commission office in Nigeria had confirmed that an appeal from the international community could make a real difference to the outcome of this case.
The MEP urged people to appeal to Nigerian ambassadors in their respective countries to do everything possible to help the mother and her child.
Publicity surrounding Mrs Kurami's case led some participants in last year's Miss World Contest to boycott the competition. The contest was eventually moved to Britain following riots after a newspaper article said the prophet Muhammad would probably have married one of the Miss World contestants were he alive today.
Sharia Islamic law was reintroduced in 2000 in 12 states of northern Nigeria where Islam is the dominant religion, despite opposition from the Nigerian federal government. The principle of secularity is enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, with 120 million inhabitants. According to sharia law, a woman married for the first time, even if she is divorced, commits adultery if she has sexual relations without having remarried. Under sharia, the sale and consumption of alcohol are strictly forbidden, adultery and theft are severely punished and schools and public transport are segregated according to gender.