Nigerian woman freed

[cyan_blue]

So I am very, very glad to hear that a Nigerian appeals court decided to free the woman who had been sentenced to death by stoning because she had become pregnant while not married. Story here.

But I'm sad that their reason for freeing her was a technicality - that she had all ready been pregnant when the law that penalizes sex outside of marriage was implemented. I'd rather they'd decided to free her because, well, having sex when one isn't married isn't so big a deal. The way that this case was settled doesn't necessarily help the next woman who is charged with having sex outside of marriage. Of course, I'd rather she be free for the wrong reasons, than lose her life because her lawyers tried and failed to make a case based on the wrongness of the law itself. I know that's how law works sometimes - it's easier to find a loophole than to overturn the law. But while her win is a wonderful victory, I'm sad that the next women charged with adultery will still have to go through battles of their own.

Comments

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

And there may be hundred of them going through this right now that have not been picked up by the media, for a variety of reasons.

If we knew all that was not picked up by the press, we would be even more horrified.

[spoothbrush.livejournal.com]

I think that one of the most subtly upsetting things in that story was that the man involved only needed to find three other men to say that he didn't have a sexual relationship with her, and he was off the hook. I'm not an expert on world religions, but I can't help but think that all this, it's not the way that Islam was intended to be.

Islam and women?

[auros]

Copied from a translation of the Quran:

Abu Hurairah reported that a man came to the Messenger [Mohammed] and asked: "O Messenger of God, who is the person who has the greatest right on me with regards to kindness and attention?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"Then who?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"And then who?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"Yes, and then who?"

He replied, "Only then, your father."

[tenebraeli.livejournal.com]

God, I'm so glad that she escaped, even on a technicality. And that bit about the man getting off because he got three of his buddies to speak for him? Ridiculous. DNA testing would have fixed him. Though I suppose there's no money for such things there.

But rocks are free.

[lillilah]

Nigeria is really fucked up from what I have heard, so I'm not surprised that their laws are screwy. Since I am currently living next door to Nigeria, I do realize that the culture here is quite different from what we are used to, but still it is a pretty screwed up world.