A young mother saved from death by stoning
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In March 2002, a young Nigerian Muslim woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and conceiving a child out of wedlock.
Amina Lawal’s case attracted huge international attention and highlighted divisions between the Christian and Muslim regions in the country.
Hauwa Ibrahim, one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria, defended Amina and helped her secure an acquittal.
The case would have very personal consequences for Hauwa who went on to adopt Amina’s daughter.
She tells Vicky Farncombe how the ground-breaking case also changed attitudes in Nigeria towards defendants from poor, rural communities.
(Photo: Hauwa Ibrahim (left) with Amina Lawal, Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:10.9 | I'm taking you back to 2003, when one of Nigeria's first female Muslim lawyers |
| 0:17.0 | saved a young mother from a gruesome punishment. |
| 0:21.9 | Just 30 years old and sentenced to death by public stoning, her only crime, giving birth to her |
| 0:28.9 | daughter out of wedlock. |
| 0:31.8 | In 2002, Amina Lowal, a divorced mother from a rural village in northern Nigeria, was convicted of adultery in an Islamic Sharia court. |
| 0:42.0 | With the case of Amina, there were so many pressures. You know, I had a lot of dead threat. |
| 0:46.9 | That's Hawa Ibrahim, a human rights lawyer with a record of defending people from severe punishments. |
| 0:53.3 | On hearing about Amina's case from a BBC |
| 0:55.6 | journalist, she visited the young mother's village to see if she would like her help, but the |
| 1:00.8 | initial meeting did not go as expected. And I spoke to Amina. She had a baby, and she had a bit of |
| 1:08.6 | an attitude. If you want to help me, okay. |
| 1:11.7 | If you don't want to help me, okay. |
| 1:13.5 | Were you surprised by Amina's attitude? |
| 1:16.9 | No, I wasn't because the issue of having pregnancy out of word luck, |
| 1:23.4 | it's a shame in the community where I came from and where also Amina come from. |
| 1:29.3 | Hawa was the first woman lawyer to come from Gombe State in Nigeria. |
| 1:33.7 | As a Muslim who had grown up in similar circumstances to Amina, |
| 1:37.3 | she felt uniquely placed to defend her. |
| 1:40.1 | So I gave her my business card. |
| 1:43.9 | I said to her, if you want our help, this is my card. |
| 1:47.1 | You can look for me and we wish you well and we have your back if you really need us. |
... |
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