>From: Madiba Saidy <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Sharia judge flogged for boozing (fwd) >Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 11:27:04 -0800 > >Sharia judge flogged for boozing > > >Sharia punishments include amputations > >A Sharia court judge in northern Nigeria has been flogged in public >after being found guilty of drinking alcohol. >Mohammadu Na'ila, received 80 strokes of the cane on Friday in front >of an estimated crowd of 5,000 people in the town of Kaura Namoda in >north-eastern Zamfara state. > >He is the first Islamic court official to be punished in public, >since a swathe of northern Nigerian states introduced full Islamic >law in the past two years. > >The relatively light punishment was handed down by his brother-in- >law, also a judge, who said that he was inclined to leniency because >he is elderly. > >The BBC's Ibrahim Dossara in Zamfara said there was cheering and >laughter among the crowd as the sentence was carried out. > >Judge Na'ila is suspended from office and is expected to be >dismissed. > >Caught out > >The case has also led to calls for all Sharia judges to be screened >to rid the courts of a few bad apples, but Zamfara's authorities have >rejected this. > >Zamfara, became the first state to re-introduce Islamic law in >Northern Nigeria two years ago. > >The Islamic code bans alcohol, and regulates the social conduct of >men and women in public. > >Our correspondent said that the elderly judge was taken by a group of >activists, known as the Sharia Implementation Committee, to a police >station after he was found behaving in a lively manner, with alcohol >on his breath. > >The governor of Zamfara, Ahmad Sani, said the conviction of a Sharia >court judge was a clear indication that "the legal system is not >discriminatory" and proved that "Sharia is not only for the common >man, but for all irrespective of their positions in society." > >Nigeria's sizeable Christian population opposes the implementation of >Sharia, and tensions in the north has spilt over into violence >between Muslims and Christians. > ><>//\\<>//\\<>//\\<>//\\<> > >To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > ><>//\\<>//\\<>//\\<>//\\<>