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July 10, 2003 -- TONIGHT'S FOCUS: A woman bears a child out of wedlock. And according to local law, she is sentenced to death by stoning. Are we talking about modern times? Yes. Amina Lawal is a 32-year-old Nigerian woman facing just that sentence. Our focus tonight is what happens when fundamentalist Islamic law meets modern human rights?
Stoning. What does that mean exactly? In this case it would mean that a woman would be buried up to her waist and stones would be thrown at her head - until she dies. It is an ancient form of execution that one court in modern Nigeria has sentenced to carry out against 32-year-old Amina Lawal. Her crime? She became pregnant and bore a child out of wedlock. She was taken from her home by a vigilante gang and convicted by an all male court.
The legal system that sentenced Amina Lawal is known as Sharia law. It is the strict interpretation of Islamic justice and it is practiced in some form or another in several countries, or as in Nigeria's case, parts of that country. In the northern part of Nigeria, crime and corruption have been so rampant that many of the residents, mostly Moslem, see Sharia law as the best cure for those problems.
Lawal's case has gathered international attention and outrage. Late last year, several contestants in the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria boycotted the contest in order to show solidarity with Lawal. The public debate there that followed descended into riots. Hundreds were killed in the ensuing violence.
Tonight Richard Gizbert will report on Amina Lawal and her trial. Much of the footage from Northern Nigeria in the report tonight was shot by a young journalist named Casey Kauffman who travelled there with a DV camera.
Chris Bury will anchor and talk about the case and the practice of this strict Islamic justice with Ayesha Imam, the founding director of a Nigerian human rights agency that is assisting in Lawal's defense, and Akbar Ahmed, the chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at American University.
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