Government to challenge Sharia sentence, says minister

Minister of Justice Kanu Agabi said on Tuesday that Nigeria's government would challenge a decision by a Sharia court to turn down an appeal against a death sentence imposed on a 30-year-old woman, Amina Lawal, convicted in March of adultery. The court on Monday upheld the death-by-stoning sentence which a lower court imposed on Lawal after she gave birth to a baby out of wedlock. The man she identified as the baby's father was acquitted for lack of evidence. "The death sentence on Amina ... raised substantial issues of law and fact worthy of the attention of the Court of Appeal," Agabi told reporters. "We must appeal against the judgment." He said that, in accordance with Nigeria’s federal constitution, the judgment of the Sharia court would be respected by the government and dealt with in the proper way. "We must not take laws into our hands; we must follow due process and respect the outcome," Agabi said. Lawal's sentence has attracted widespread international condemnation from human rights groups, with governments, including those of the US and various European countries, and the European Union expressing their concern to the Nigerian government. Under the terms of the judgment, the execution of the sentence would be suspended for 18 months, when Lawal's eight-month baby would have been weaned. If Katsina State’s judicial process is exhausted, the case could go through the federal court of appeal and ultimately to the Supreme Court.