Women Still Treated 2nd Class Worldwide

By Angie Botoulas
Corsair Staff Writer

• Nigerian woman Amina Lawal faces execution by public stoning for accused adultery causing people worldwide to focus on women’s rights — except for the the United States.

In our image-obsessed, insular culture, it is likely that Los Angelenos are more aware of the latest plastic surgery procedure or that Fred Segal had its big sale this weekend, than that a 30-year old Nigerian woman faces the prospect of being buried up to her neck in sand and then being slowly stoned to death.

Perhaps you missed the five seconds of coverage that the United States media have given to the plight of Amina Lawal, who has been sentenced to death by stoning after confessing to having sexual relations with a man other than her husband. After all, it seems to me that if it’s not on “Oprah” and doesn’t infringe on our precious rights, America doesn’t care.

To be sure, the idea of being sentenced to death for having an intimate relationship outside of wedlock seems archaic to our modern, sexually liberated sensibilities. But the hard truth is that women in many other countries face persecution, execution and violent sexual discrimination for that very act, on an ongoing basis.

Ironically, it is the ultimate monument to beauty and bimbo-hood —the beauty pageant— that has brought international attention to Lawal’s case.

That’s because a number of Miss World contestants, Miss USA not included, have announced plans to boycott the November pageant, set to be held in the home country of the reigning Miss World, Nigerian Agbani Darego, in a show of condemnation for the stoning sentence.

Miss World organizers say having all contestants take part and stand together on stage, as a united female front, will make more of an impact. Of course, that could be construed as a desperate attempt to keep the pageant going.

Following the lead of these ‘beauties-with-a-purpose,’ the rest of the world’s eyes have now focused on Nigeria and the case.

Under the Shari’ah Law of northern Nigeria’s Muslim-controlled states, adultery is punishable by death — a fate probably sealed when Lawal gave birth to a child more than nine months after her divorce since pregnancy is considered sufficient evidence to condemn a woman. (Wouldn’t you know, all charges against the alleged father of her child have been dropped.) Last month, the Shari’ah court upheld its decision, originally made in March, which will ensure a painful, tortuous end to Lawal’s young life as soon as she has finished weaning her child.

However, the Nigerian government is secular and considers this Muslim law unconstitutional. The African country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the ICCPR, which protects the right to life and assures that death sentences may be imposed, in those countries where the penalty is not abolished, for only the most serious of crimes.

Sex between consenting adults can hardly fall into “the most serious of crimes” category and yet, the Nigerian government has done nothing so far to stop the sentence from being carried out. The only murmur made by Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, was his statement that he didn’t think the case would result in her death.

“Indeed if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria,” Obasanjo said.

Very touching, but for all his tears, there’s no indication he will intervene, leaving it up to the court system.

Perhaps it will take international pressure to force him into action. Although I have heard of no official comment from the U.S. government in response, Bill Clinton has appealed to Nigeria to spare the mother’s life, clarifying that his appeal is personal and not on behalf of the United States. Meanwhile, Britain’s chair of the All Party Group on Third World Debt has suggested that Nigeria would be less likely to get debt relief from first world countries if Lawal is executed.

Human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, strongly condemn the Shari’ah ruling on the grounds that it “represents the ultimate inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life.”

To that end, the organization is calling on us to write to the Nigerian government to push for the abolition of the death penalty and to urge them to ensure that Lawal enjoys her full rights of appeal “to a higher, independent tribunal which follows the due process of the law.”

You can also write to your Representative in Congress to urge for the co-sponsorship of House of Congress Resolution 351, which condemns the practice of execution by stoning as a gross human rights violation. (Consider that not just any stone can be used — it mustn’t be too big to cause immediate death, nor too small to inflict meaningful pain and damage. No, the stones must be just the right size to prolong agony until the skull cracks and her brains spill out.)

Or, of course, you can just go back to trying on various outfits for your hot date on Friday night and pretend that life doesn’t exist outside of L.A.