NIGERIA: Safiya Husseini will today appeal her sentence of death. Her case, which has drawn expressions of concern from the Government, some TDs and the members of the public in Ireland, is being monitored by the Irish and other EU embassies in the Nigerian capital, Abuja , the Department of Foreign Affairs said, write David Shanks and Judith Crosbie
The Nigerian embassy in Dublin had received numerous correspondence concerning the case from the public, a spokesman said. He added the Nigerian federal government and national assembly had taken up the issue.
Several petitions - one with 1,000 signatures and another with 500 - have been handed into the Nigerian embassy. Last week hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Nigerian embassy in Rome.
Mr Michael D. Higgins, the Labour spokesman on foreign affairs, has said the case highlights the issue of Ireland's treatment of asylum- seekers from Nigeria. The Ministers for Justice and Foreign Affairs both had a case to answer in deeming Nigeria an appropriate place to return asylum-seekers.
The reply he had received to this point was that Sharia law only applied to a few areas of the country. This was "indefensible", said Mr Higgins. "There is no basis and no evidence that Nigeria is a safe place", and to return applicants there was "an appalling abuse of international law".
In answer to Dáil questions the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has said the Government made known to Nigeria its "deep concern" and "condemned the severe and inhumane nature of the punishment (of Ms Husseini), which is in violation of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
The Minister welcomed the appeal by the Nigerian government to the Sokoto State Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over the northern Tungar Tudo village where Ms Husseini lives.
The case and the wider issue of Islamic or Sharia law being introduced in northern Nigeria has taken on new significance since the murder of Nigeria's justice minister, Mr Bola Ige, on December 24th.
He was also attorney-general and appeared to be heading for a confrontation with Muslim Sharia courts after the death sentence was handed down to Ms Husseini.
Police and the government were quick to link the killing to a feud between the two leading politicians in Mr Ige's home state, Ogun. But press commentators have speculated on possible links to the military and Mr Ige's criticism of Sharia law.
A Dublin Jesuit, Father Michael O'Sullivan, first drew the attention of the public to the case in a letter to The Irish Times.
He quoted from a letter received from a confrère in Nigeria: "According to Islamic law, Safiya is a woman who has had a son outside marriage and who, therefore, must be subject to capital punishment.
"The woman is to be buried in such a way that she is immobilised, with only her head and chest remaining above ground. Once buried in this way, she is to be stoned until she is dead.
"Meanwhile the rapist has been absolved of all blame, for lack of proof," he said.
Urging people to write to the Nigerian embassy, Father O'Sullivan added that his correspondent had said:
"Many single women that we do not know have been killed by stoning, but now we know Safiya and so she in this moment is part of our responsibility."
In his answer to questions from TDs Mr Éamon Gilmore (acting on behalf of Mr Higgins), Mr Jim O'Keeffe and Mr Bernard Durkan, Mr Cowen said the Government was also concerned at the actions of the Nigerian army in the state of Benue, where there was violence in October.
He said human rights in Nigeria had improved since President Obasanjo came to power in 1999 but that the introduction of Sharia law in several northern states had exacerbated ethnic and religious tensions there. Mr O'Keeffe asked the Government to raise the "barbaric sentence" through the EU and the UN to ensure maximum pressure was brought on the Nigerian government.
The address of the Nigerian embassy is: 56 Leeson Park, Dublin 6; tel: 01-660 4366, fax 01-660 4092