Thirteen-year-old Bariya Ibrahim Magazu was charged with having pre-marital sex and making “false” accusations against the three middle-aged men whom she testifies pressured her into sex. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Magazu’s own father had debts with each of the three men and therefore arranged for her to have sex with them as a method of repayment. In court, Magazu was never given the opportunity to face the three men that “pressured” her into having sex, and the corroborating testimony of several witnesses was not admitted into the court. Judge Idris Usman Gusau sentenced Magazu to 100 lashes with a cane for engaging in pre-marital sex, and an additional 80 lashes for making so-called false claims against the three men Ð in essence, a death sentence. “No human can survive 180 lashes using a cane,” says Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “These are very sad times when the world enters the year 2001 and women are still forced to live under draconian laws.”
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