US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1974

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001974 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KIRF, NI 
SUBJECT: AMINA LAWAL: THE JUDGMENT 
 
1. Summary: Amina Lawal's conviction for Zina (adultery) was 
overturned by the Katsina State Shari'a Court of Appeal on 
September 25.  The decision by four appeals judges to one on 
the panel agreed with the defense on several counts and found 
no evidence for the prosecution.  Post presents the 
translated summary of the judgment.  End Summary. 
 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
 
2. Amina Lawal is a divorced woman from a small village in 
the Northern State of Katsina.  Eleven months after her 
divorce she was arrested by local police, who observed that 
she was pregnant, and charged with her with Zina (adultery) 
under Shari'a law.  She supposedly confessed to police, was 
convicted in early 2002, and sentenced to death by stoning. 
After multiple appeals and delays, the Katsina State Sharia 
Appeals Court began hearing arguments on the case on August 
27, 2003 and handed down a judgment in favor of Ms. Lawal on 
September 25.  The man with which Amina Lawal allegedly 
committed adultery never confessed to the crime.  As there 
were no witnesses to the act and he did not confess, one or 
the other being required under Shari'a, the man was acquitted 
during the first trial and released. 
 
 
The Appeal 
---------- 
 
 
3. Ms. Lawal's appeal centered on four main points: 
 
 
-- Without four witnesses to the act of adultery, there must 
be a confession and the accused must be allowed to withdraw 
any confession made.  There were questions about the 
confession, and in any case it had since been retracted. 
 
 
-- The Nigerian court could only convict for something that 
was a crime under Nigerian law at the time of the crime.  As 
the statute embodying Shari'a for criminal offenses had not 
been enacted at the time the alleged offense occured, the 
case was ex post facto.  Moreover, as court procedure for 
implementing the law had still not been passed by the 
legislature and gazetted, the court could not have followed 
any legal Nigerian criminal court procedure. 
 
 
-- Complicated Shari'a-based arguments that adultery might 
not have occured, under the Maliki school (predominant in 
Nigeria) of Islamic jurisprudence, if the baby was born 
within five years of the divorce, and that only her husband 
or the four witnesses to the act (not the police simply 
noticing her pregnancy) could charge her with adultery. 
 
 
-- Notwithstanding the contention above that no legal code of 
procedure was in place, there were many obvious procedural 
flaws ranging from not explaining the crime and law to the 
accused (especially that she could only be convicted if she 
confessed, and that she could confess to a lesser crime), to 
those giving testimony to the court swearing by the Quran 
instead of "by God," to the accused not being represented by 
legal counsel nor being allowed to call witnesses, to there 
being only one judge instead of the required three at the 
trial. 
 
 
The Prosecution 
--------------- 
 
 
4. The prosecution claimed that: 
 
 
-- Amina Lawal understood the crime, did confess, and the 
confession was not withdrawn. 
 
 
-- Shari'a as a body of law and procedure predated the crime 
and the court proceedings, therefore the charge was not ex 
post facto and Shari'a court procedure existed in the absence 
of legally gazetted specific legislation. 
 
 
-- Even more technical Maliki arguments that the five-year 
presumption that the child was the husband's did not apply 
because the (divorced) accused did not give the baby to the 
(ex-) husband, and that in the absence of eyewitnesses or the 
husband charging her, the police could charge her under the 
theory that "anyone seeing wrong should bring it to justice." 
 
 
-- Legal arguments on procedure that explanations of the law, 
legal counsel, witnesses, and three judges are not necessary 
if the crime is obvious and confessed by the accused. 
 
 
4-1 Judgment Freeing Lawal 
-------------------------- 
 
 
5. Four of the five Shari'a Appeals Court kadis (judges) 
decided that the lower court's ruling should be overturned 
for several reasons, essentially agreeing with the appeal 
that the confession was invalid, that even if it had been 
valid it could be withdrawn, that the charge was ex post 
facto application of Nigerian law, that the baby had not been 
proven not to be the (ex-) husband's, and that the police (as 
opposed to eyewitnesses or the husband) had no authority to 
charge her with adultery.  On procedure, the court said that 
existing Shari'a sources should be applied but also that they 
must be gazetted.  They also upheld all the specific 
challenges on procedures at the trial. 
 
 
6. COMMENT: Thus it appears the judges waffled on whether 
Shari'a could be applied in criminal cases before court 
procedure for such cases had been enacted or gazetted.  As 
this was the only challenge to use of Shari'a in principle 
after enactment of Shari'a-based penal codes for various 
northern Nigeria states, and court procedures have not been 
gazetted, both sides in the controversy still have legal 
ground to challenge Shari'a criminal court decisions without 
challenging whether Shari'a for criminal cases violates the 
Constitution or human rights law and international agreements 
per se.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
7. The four judges did include some zingers, reminding that 
in an adultery case it was up to the accusers to prove their 
charge and that accusers who could not prove it should 
receive 40 lashes.  Moreover, if there were any doubts, they 
should have been decided in favor of the accused.  The fifth 
appeals judge, Sule Sadi Kofar Bai, ruled against the appeal, 
essentially agreeing with the prosecution's presentation on 
all of the particulars.  He too added a zinger, claiming that 
the Shari'a courts were not bound by Nigeria's Constitution. 
On the basis of the four judges' decision, Lawal was 
discharged and formally acquitted of all charges. 
 
 
Text of the Majority Ruling 
--------------------------- 
 
 
8.  (Begin text translated from the original Hausa, with 
parenthetical explanations added by the Embassy) 
 
 
The Court sat with its full 5 members comprising 
 
 
Honorable Grand Kadi Aminu Ibrahim Katsina 
Honorable Kadi Suleiman Muhammad Daura 
Honorable Ibrahim Mai Unguwa 
Honorable Shehu Mu'azu Dan Muba 
Honorable Sule Sadi Kofar Bai 
 
 
In his lead judgment, Honorable Grand Kadi Aminu Ibrahim 
Katsina recounted the entire proceeding before them, the 
arguments and replies of the Appellant Counsels. 
 
 
In their 25 September Ruling, the Shari'a Appeal Court held: 
 
 
- The duty of the police is important. However, they should 
not have charged the Appellant for an offence, as it is not 
necessarily their constitutional responsibility. 
 
 
- For an offence of Zina (adultery) to be proved, the two 
accused persons must be seen performing the act of adultery 
openly by at least 4 responsible male adults, which is not 
the case of this appeal. 
 
 
- The discharge of the second accused (i.e. the man who 
committed adultery with her) by the trial court, without 
establishing these 4 witnesses who saw the act of adultery, 
was done in error and cannot be sustained before this Court. 
 
 
- The administering of swearing by the Holy Quran adopted by 
the trial court is not a proper procedure. 
 
 
- Since the Appellant was not the wife of the second accused 
(at the trial, under the Shari'a she cannot be charged for 
adultery (by him). 
 
 
- Where anybody accuses someone of Zina (adultery) and cannot 
prove it, the person should be flogged 40 times. 
 
 
- It is an abuse of the Shari'a Penal Court Law for a judge 
to sit alone at the trial when the Law provided that a judge 
should sit with two other members. 
 
 
- It is true that the Holy Quran, the Hadith and the Sunnah 
of Prophet Mohammed, Ijmah, Qiyas, Ijtihad and Al-Urf should 
apply in Shari'a to arrive at judgment.  However, there is 
need for it (procedure from these sources) to be gazetted. 
 
 
- The State (the prosecutors) cannot choose and pick what 
they want in the Shari'a Penal Court Law of Katsina State. 
 
 
- The commencement date of the Katsina State Shari'a Penal 
Code (being applicable) is as provided for in the law, June 
2001. 
 
 
- Four witnesses have not been established, therefore the 
Appellant must be discharged and acquitted. 
 
 
- The confession of the Appellant (Lawal) is not valid. 
 
 
- The Trial Court did not give opportunities for the 
Appellant to withdraw or retract her confession. 
 
 
- If the Appellant had allegedly confessed and the second 
accused refused to confess, then it cannot be (a conviction 
for) adultery. 
- The accused person cannot swear by the Quran, they can only 
swear by God. 
 
 
- The record of the trial court is clear that the Appellant's 
confession was not allowed the process of IHIZARI (allowing 
her to confess to a lesser crime). 
 
 
- There is doubt in the trial court record on the confession 
of the Appellant, and where such a doubt exists, it must be 
resolved in the favor of the accused person. The court 
recounted the entire story of Ma'is to buttress this point. 
 
 
- The Appellant's pregnancy and childbirth could have been 
the product of the former husband. The burden of proof is 
only on prosecutor, not on the accused. 
 
 
- An Appellant can withdraw her confession at any time before 
the judgment. When that is done, the trial court must accept 
it. 
 
 
- An alleged Appellant must be advised at least 4 times the 
opportunity to withdraw or retract her confession. 
 
 
- Where an Appellant withdraws or retracts her confession, 
she cannot be punished. 
 
 
- Islam and Shari'a provide for Freedom, Protection and 
Justice, and because of all the above reasoning, the Court 
should dismiss all the charge against the Appellant. 
 
 
The Court discharges and acquits the Appellant. 
MEECE