Hajara Ibrahim: NOT GUILTY.

[IL CAPO]

Dass - An Islamic court in northern Nigeria on Wednesday discharged and acquitted a pregnant teenager who had been convicted for adultery, for which she had been sentenced to be stoned to death.

 

Presiding judge Mohammed Mustapha Umar of the Upper Sharia court said here the lower Sharia (Islamic law) court was wrong in sentencing Hajara Ibrahim, 18, to death by stoning last October 8.

 

"This court observes the following faults in the lower court judgement: firstly, the judge was wrong in sentencing Hajara to 100 lashes and death by stoning, all at the same time," he said.

 

"Secondly, Dauda Sani was charged to court for having an affair with Hajara which he denied. Therefore, the lower court should have dismissed the case and sentenced Hajara's father who was the plaintiff to 80 lashes for slander," he said.

 

No defence

 

The judge at the court in Dass, in the northern Bauchi State, said the lower court also erred by not giving Hajara the chance for defence.

 

"Any judgement passed without chance of defence is null and void. Based on these reasons, this court hereby nullifies the lower court judgement and discharges and acquits Hajara Ibrahim," he added.

 

He said anybody who is not satisfied with the ruling can file an appeal at the Sharia court of appeal.

 

Hajara had appealed against her conviction by the lower Sharia court in Lere village in Tafawa Balewa district Bauchi State for adultery, contrary to section 130 of the state's strict Sharia penal code, enacted two-and-a-half years ago.

 

Her lawyer, Abdulkadir Suleiman, had argued that the October ruling was invalid because Hajara had not consummated her marriage before sleeping with her boyfriend and conceiving a child and was thus innocent of the capital crime of adultery.

 

Hajara was happy about Wednesday's ruling and thanked those who assisted her.

 

"I am happy that I have been acquitted. I thank God and those that helped me through this trying moment,"

 

"My main worry now is my health and that of my child. I hope for a safe delivery," she added.

 

'Left him to his conscience'

 

Hajara said she has forgiven her boyfriend for denying he had an affair with her. "I have left him to his conscience."

 

Since 1999, 12 states across the mainly Muslim north of the country have begun reintroducing Sharia principles into their penal codes, including punishments such as flogging, amputation and stoning.

 

No stonings have yet been carried out, but several men and women around the region have been convicted of a variety of sexual crimes - adultery, rape or sodomy - and are awaiting news of their appeals.

 

Hajara's lawyer said he has a second female teenage client in Bauchi State whose appeal would be heard in Upper Sharia Court on December 2 in Ningi, about 100km north of Bauchi city.

Peace.