‘Barbarous’ death penalty stalled after EU pressure

Date: 24/01/02

By Martin Banks

THE stoning to death of a pregnant Nigerian woman has been postponed following political pressure from the European Union.

Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu was due to be executed on 12 January after an Islamic court found her guilty of pre-marital sex, an offence under Sharia law.

Tungar-Tudu claims she was raped.

She won a stay of execution only after the president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, intervened at the eleventh hour. Her fate will now be decided at an appeal hearing on 18 March.

If she loses her appeal and the death sentence goes ahead, she will be buried with only her head and chest remaining above ground.

Once immobilised, she will be stoned to death.

The case has attracted widespread condemnation, including a strong rebuke last November from the European Parliament.

A protest letter, signed by 92 MEPs, has been sent to Gabriel Akunwafor, head of Nigeria's mission to the EU, calling on his country to halt the 'inhuman and barbarous' death sentence on Tungar-Tudu and to respect international human rights laws.

The members have also called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Mary Robinson and European Commission President Romano Prodi to intervene.

Greek Socialist deputy Anna Karamanou, who signed the petition, said the deputies oppose the death sentence in all circumstances because of its 'inherent cruelty'.

She added: 'The letter also draws Nigeria's attention to the international covenant on civil and political rights that Nigeria ratified in July 1993 and which strictly prohibits the imposition of capital punishment on a pregnant woman.'

British MEP John Corrie, co-president of the EU-ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific nations) joint parliamentary assembly, has asked the Nigerian government to grant clemency to Tungar-Tudu.

He said: 'To be stoned to death is an inhuman and cruel punishment.'

The stoning to death of a pregnant Nigerian woman has been postponed following political pressure from the European Union.