WRITTEN QUESTION E-3338/01

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Council

(3 December 2001)

Subject: Nigeria

On 9 October 2001 an Islamic court in the state of Sokoto (northern Nigeria) sentenced a pregnant woman to be stoned to death for having had a pre-marital relationship. The 30-year-old Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu is the first person to have been condemned to death following the introduction in 2000 of a strict Islamic code. The judge, Mohammed Bello Sanyinnawal, from the Gwadadawa High Islamic Court, sentenced the woman to death after she had admitted having had a pre-marital relationship. The court, which has released the man whom Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu named as her lover on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence for him to be put on trial, has given the woman 30 days in which to appeal. On 25 October 2001, Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu's defence lawyer appealed against the sentence and called for a stay of execution pending a ruling from the Sharia Appeals Court. On 1 November 2001 the President of the Nigerian Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim, partially condemned the sentence passed by the Islamic court on the grounds that it discriminated against the woman (who was found guilty, whereas the man was released), whilst the federal government has also appealed against the sentence.

In Nigeria there are many other cases in which the Sharia has been applied to pre-marital relationships, following the decision by a dozen of the federation's states to introduce a strict Islamic code two years ago. Last January, in the state of Zamfara, a 17-year-old girl, Bariya Mugazu, was given 100 lashes for having had a pre-marital relationship, after the court had rejected her powerful testimony to the effect that she had been raped by three suspects whom she called before the court but who were released for lack of evidence.

What urgent bilateral and multilateral action has the Council taken (or does it intend to take) in order to prevent Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu from being sentenced and in order to encourage the Nigerian authorities to abolish the Sharia and strengthen the rule of law in the country? How does the Council intend to tackle, on an international basis, the problem of the many Islamic countries which resort to public executions and other punishments such as whipping which are inflicted mainly on women and often for offences which do not involved violence, in breach of the standards laid down under international human rights agreements?

Reply

(13 May 2002)

The Council would point out that Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. On this basis, both in international fora and in its bilateral relations the European Union works for the cessation of such practices and for an end to the application of the death sentence.

In the case of Nigeria, it may be noted that the European Union is conducting a dialogue with the Nigerian authorities, on the basis of its Common Position on Nigeria(1), with a view to reinforcing Nigeria's ongoing process to consolidate democracy and respect for human rights. In this context, the Council welcomes the Federal Government's efforts to ensure that Nigerian law is consistent with international human rights instruments. It regards the peaceful action taken in that connection by Moslem and Christian human rights groups in Nigeria as encouraging. The Union has been following the case of Safiya Hussaini closely, and notes that it is currently subject to appeal before the Sokoto Sharia Court of Appeal.

Accordingly, the Member States of the European Union and the Commission have given firm and coordinated backing to the international efforts in support of Ms Hussaini. A formal European Union demarche is being considered, if the Sokoto Sharia court of appeal upholds the sentence.

(1) Common Position 2001/373/CFSP, OJ L 132, 15.5.2001.