Nigerian awaits death squad

For birthing a child out of wedlock, the young woman awaits her punishment. After a proper period for weaning, she shall be buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned to death, her skull crushed beneath a hailstorm of rocks and bricks. A tribal court says the punishment is proper and just, as the accused partner flees with nary a scratch.\nThe above could easily be a cautionary moral tale from the Bible or Quran, written in a time far gone, by a people far less equal. The seemingly conjured scene doesn't seem modern to most, set in an U.N. member nation, with a constitution and legal system that ensures liberty and equal rights.\nBut to Amina Lawal, a 30-year-old Nigerian mother who has been condemned to death by stoning by Muslim courts in January 2004 on the charge of adultery, equal rights seem not to apply. The fact that the Nigerian constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights both prohibit stoning had no bearing on the sentence. \nAnd Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo refuses to intervene in the case, allowing the Islamic courts of Northern Nigeria to do as they please.\n"I don't think what is going on will lead to her death," Obasanjo said to reporters at his residence on Aug. 22. "Indeed, if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria."\nBut Lawal is already crying out for help.\n"Why? Why?" Lawal asked in an interview with London's Mirror tabloid. "Why is it they hate like this? What have I done which makes me the sinner? Where is the man who made my baby?"\nThat's why concerned IU students have taken up the cause of Aminal Lawal in protest of her sentence and the U.S. government's refusal to interfere.\nA poster designed by senior Sarah Johnson, a graphic design major, urges readers to contact Congressman John Hostettler's office to show solidarity with Lawal's plight. It can be seen on the north side of Ballantine Hall, among other locations.\n"As a graphic designer, one does not always get the chance to do work for something you personally want to express," Johnson said. "I was moved to help this mother because I myself am a woman."\nFine Arts professor Diane Reilly first brought the idea to Johnson. \n"There's a lot of time for people to say: 'Surely something will happen, surely something will be done,'" Reilly said. "But that means there's a lot of time for (the story) to disappear from the headlines."\nIn the past two years, Sharia, or Islamic Law, has been adopted by 12 of the 36 states in Nigeria. It is an amalgam of the teachings of the Quran and the prophet Muhammad, a moral code that dictates the behavior of its followers, from fasting to praying to justice. \nWithin Sharia, the specific punishments for moral transgressions are to be determined within each state that practices the laws. In Lawal's home state of Katsina, the punishment for adultery is stoning, although a passage from the Quran does suggest a less lethal punishment of 100 lashes.\nThe justice system of the northern states is autonomous, that is, the federal government of Nigeria will not directly interfere with judgments found by states under Sharia. However, in March 2002, the government did rule that the version of Sharia practiced in the north was unconstitutional. Further, because of successes at compromise between the federal and state governments, there has not yet been an execution for adultery in Nigeria, although a single teenage mother was given 100 lashes last year, despite her claim of rape in the incident.\n"We fully understand the concerns of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, but we cannot imagine or envision a Nigerian being stoned to death,'' Obasanjo said in an Oct. 1 radio and television broadcast to Nigeria. "It has never happened. And may it never happen.''\nSuch a system of compromise is not good enough for much of the outside world, from the European Union to Washington, D.C. to Bloomington. \nOn Sept. 27, the British Merlon Amnesty Group presented a 1.3 million signature petition to Nigerian officials in London, protesting the execution of Lawal. The European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights voted in favor of a boycott of the Miss World Pageant, to be held Nov. 30 in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.\nIn the US House of Representatives, Resolution 351, submitted March 24 by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn), proposes that the United States should publicly condemn execution by stoning, and that President Bush should communicate the sentiment to President Obasanjo. The resolution is still waiting to come before committee, and with only 88 cosponsors and little time left in session, that prospect seems unlikely.\nEighth District Representative John Hostettler is not among the cosponsors of Resolution 351, which has mobilized students on campus to make their thoughts known to their representative.\nHostettler was not able to be reached for comment.\nReilly said she has been asking people to contact Hostettler's Bloomington office via e-mail or phone.\n"Our government representatives will only care and only know that something must be done if (people) tell him," Reilly said. "That's why it's important"