control and sexuality

Control and Sexuality: The Revival of Zina Laws in Muslim ContextsIn a stark contrast to such tendencies, a secular socialist feminist organisation namedWomen in Nigeria (WIN) was formed in 1983; it was conceived after an academic seminarin 1982 (Imam 1997: 281). Endowed with a clearly articulated political programme, whilemaintaining the necessary distance from the state’s insidious apparatus (unlike both NCWSand FOWMAN), WIN soon became the leading civil society organisation fighting for genderjustice in its manifold economic, political, cultural and other aspects (Imam 1997: 292). Itswell thought of, holistic approach to research, documentation, awareness-raising, policyformulation and advocacy has contributed exceptionally to further the development andcapacity-building of the Nigerian women’s movement, as well as civil society as a whole(Awe & Mba 1991: 860; Salime 2008: 206).In the wake of the post-1999 Muslim penal codes and ‘shari’a implementation’ policies,spanning the 12 northern states, women’s human rights organisations from across Nigeriaand beyond warned against the inherent gender bias of these measures. When the firstzina trial commenced in September 2000 in Zamfara and subsequently sentenced BariyaIbrahim Magazu, a 13-year-old girl pregnant due to a gang rape, to 100 lashes for zinaand 80 lashes for qadhf (false accusation), while the three perpetrators were acquitteddue to ‘lack of evidence’, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights was first to react (BAOBAB2003a: 10–11). This organisation – co-founded by the late Hajara Usman and Ayesha MImam, one of Nigeria’s most prominent feminist scholars and human rights defenders –quickly realised that Bariya was not given appropriate legal defence and that an appellateprocedure against the wrongful sentence was necessary. Thus, BAOBAB persuaded Bariyaand her family to appeal, and requested experts and activists from diverse internationalMuslim contexts to provide arguments from relevant Muslim legal traditions for thedefence of a zina case. With information collected this way, as well as via its activists’independent research, BAOBAB formed a team of seven lawyers to organise and carry outBariya’s appeal. The subsequent judicial review decided that the lashes for qadhf shouldbe revoked, but her zina sentence was carried out only 22 days after her child was born(BAOBAB 2003a: 10–12). BAOBAB secured legal representation and spearheaded bothnational and international advocacy for all subsequent zina cases, 31 as well as for somecases of theft (sariqah) involving minors 32 (BAOBAB 2003a). In these efforts, it was soonjoined by several women’s and human rights organisations; most notably, the Women’sRights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), which took the lead in thedefence of Amina Lawal, whose zina case received unprecedented international publicity.31 The following women have been subsequently helped by BAOBAB and other prominent nationalhuman rights groups in zina proceedings: Hafsatu Abubakar Gwiwa (of Sokoto state), AisatuMusa (Sokoto), Hauwa Garuba (Sokoto), Maryam Abubakar Bodinga (Sokoto), Safiyyatu HusseiniTungar-Tudu (Sokoto), Amina Lawal (Katsina) and Fatima Usman (Niger; together with her lover,Ahmed Ibrahim). For more information, see BAOBAB 2003a: 12–17.32 Until mid-2003, BAOBAB has taken up the cases of the following minors (boys) prosecuted underthe charges of theft: Lawal Garba, Bashir Alkali, Aminu Bello, Mohammed Sulaiman, Bawa Magaji,Umaru Guda, Sirajo Idris, Bello Garba, Malami Aliyu and Altine Hassan. For details of these cases,see BAOBAB 2003a: 17–20.142