PRINTER'S NO. 2309
No. 297 Session of 2002
INTRODUCED BY HUGHES, SCHWARTZ, TARTAGLIONE, KITCHEN, EARLL,
M. WHITE, BOSCOLA, ORIE, C. WILLIAMS, MELLOW, BRIGHTBILL,
FUMO, A. WILLIAMS, HELFRICK, GREENLEAF, BODACK, STACK,
KUKOVICH, MUSTO AND LOGAN, OCTOBER 9, 2002
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, OCTOBER 9, 2002
A RESOLUTION
1 Condemning the court-sanctioned practice by Nigerian courts of
2 stoning women for engaging in sexual intercourse outside
3 marriage.
4 WHEREAS, In March 2002, a Sharia court in the state of
5 Katsina in northern Nigeria sentenced 30-year-old Amina Lawal to
6 death for having engaged in sexual intercourse outside marriage;
7 and
8 WHEREAS, The government used Amina Lawal's pregnancy as
9 evidence of her having committed adultery; and
10 WHEREAS, On August 19, 2002, the judgment of the lower court
11 that sentenced Amina Lawal to death by stoning was upheld on
12 appeal; and
13 WHEREAS, Over the past year, some northern Nigerian states
14 have increasingly applied Sharia law to criminal cases,
15 principal among them sexual intercourse outside marriage by
16 women; and
17 WHEREAS, As a consequence, Nigerian Sharia courts have
1 ordered public flogging, long-term imprisonment and death by
2 stoning for cases involving sexual intercourse outside marriage;
3 and
4 WHEREAS, The Nigerian constitution guarantees the right to
5 life and to freedom from torture and cruel and inhuman and
6 degrading punishments and the right to fair trial; and
7 WHEREAS, Nigeria is also a state party to the Convention
8 Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
9 or Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and
10 Political Rights (ICCPR); and
11 WHEREAS, The ICCPR protects the right to life, and, in
12 countries which have not abolished the death penalty, assures
13 that sentences of death may be imposed only for the most serious
14 crimes; and
15 WHEREAS, International human rights law guarantees women the
16 right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on
17 matters relating to their sexual autonomy, without coercion,
18 discrimination and violence; therefore be it
19 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 condemn the court-sanctioned practice by Nigerian courts of
21 stoning women for engaging in sexual intercourse outside
22 marriage; and be it further
23 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
24 condemn the cruel and inhuman sentence imposed on Amina Lawal
25 and urge the Nigerian government to commute her death sentence;
26 and be it further
27 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
28 the presiding officers of each house of Congress, to His
29 Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria, His
30 Excellency Kanu Godwin Agabi, Minister of Justice, Nigeria, and
20020S0297R2309 - 2 -
1 Minister Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, Minister of Justice and
2 Attorney General, Nigeria.
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