Womens Economic Rights> UPDATE ON DEATH BY STONING

[jjowa@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Dear networkers,

OKOGIE OFFERS TO DIE FOR SAFIYA

Published on Daily Times of 13th December, 2001

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Dr. Olubunmi Okogie has volunteered to step 
into the shoes of Safiya Tudu, who was sentenced to death by stoning for 
adultery by a Sharia court in Sokoto State.  The dramatic offer by the Catholic 
cleric is contained in an official statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by 
the Lagos Catholic Archdiocese Director of Social Communication, Rev. Fr. 
Gabriel Osu.
The statement said Archbishop Okogie made the offer just in case the Sharia 
legal authorities in Sokoto State remain adamant to all entreaties and 
pleadings that the death sentence on Safiya be quashed.
According to the statement, Okogie in adding his voice to those of other good 
samaritans observed that the "Stone age" was gone and there was no room for 
barbaric and inhuman acts again in today's society.  Okogie called on those 
charged with the responsibility of administering and interpreting the Sharia 
laws to do so with the fear of God, civility and human considerations.
He said no one should make proclamations which degrade the name of a corporate 
Nigeria.
Okogie said: "Decadent and barbaric acts expose Nigeria to the glare and 
probing eyes of the international media, an exercise which often ravish our 
quest for development and democratisation.
"No one should pull the country away from the comity of the civilized 
international society," the  archbishop concluded.
Although a reprieve has been granted by the Sharia Appeal Court of Sokoto with 
a stay of action order on the death sentence, Safiya's fate still hangs on the 
decision of the appeal court which has the power to uphold or quash the 
original death sentence.

NOGI IMOUKHUEDE