An Islamic court in Sokoto state in northern Nigeria last week sentenced Safiya Hussaini Tungar Dudu to death by stoning for having pre-marital sex. She is the first woman to receive this punishment since Sokoto adopted sharia, Islamic law. The woman is pregnant, but the court claimed that it could not find enough evidence to prosecute the man identified as the sexual partner. Feminist Majority Foundation President called the latest sentencing in Sokoto, “a symptom of Talibanization and an example of the spread of fundamentalist extremism.”
Sharia was first established in Zamfara state, Nigeria in 2000 and has since has spread to at least nine other Nigerian states, mostly in the predominately Islamic north, creating tensions between Christian and Islamic populations there. For more on sharia in Nigeria and its affect on women, see previous articles on Feminist News.
