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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epsteinbd who wrote (17468)	11/1/2002 8:09:25 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 23908

Man flogged for adultery November 01, 2002 A WELDER has been publicly flooged for adultery in the first incidence of punishment under strict Islamic law, or Sharia, in south-west Nigeria. Suleiman Shittu, 29, received 100 strokes of the cane after confessing to an independent Sharia panel in Ibadan city that he had had sex with a Muslim girl who was not his wife. A crowd of about 500 people, including several Islamic leaders and clerics, watched as Shittu was flogged by two teenagers in front of the central mosque in the city, which has a predominantly Muslim population, witnesses said. Twelve states in northern Nigeria have reintroduced the Islamic legal code, which prescribes punishments including stoning, amputation, flogging and fines for crimes ranging from adultery, to fornication, stealing, gambling, public dancing and drunkenness. The flogging in Ibadan, the capital of south-west Oyo state, is the first such punishment to be meted out in the region, where the Islamic code has not been formally reintroduced. Shittu's father Awe has protested about the caning, which witnesses said was also watched by a top official of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Rasheed Adiyatu-Lai. Adiyatu-Lai said the way was now open for other offenders to voluntarily come forward for punishment if they felt they had infringed Sharia law. The punishment lasted for about five minutes and the victim stood while it was being administered, with the crowd roaring Al Akbar (God is great) in Arabic, witnesses said. Shittu formally confessed his offence to the Sharia panel on October 10 and reportedly urged the judges to punish him. The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria set up the independent panel in Oyo state to try volunteers because the code has not been formally reintroduced in the south-west of the vast west African nation. The application of Sharia law is limited in Oyo state as it covers only personal and marital issues, unlike the Islamic code practised in the north which also covers criminal matters. Tens of convicts have had limbs amputated, or been flogged or fined in northern states. Although some women have been condemned to death by stoning in recent months in some of states, international and local pressure has prevented the sentences being carried out so far. The government said this week that Amina Lawal, a woman convicted of adultery by a northern Sharia court, would not be stoned to death as stipulated by the law. theaustralian.news.com.au