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I wanted to bring this case to the attention of the community, for those who may be interested. It involves a Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, who has been sentence to death for having a child out of wedlock. Once the child is weaned, she will be taken to a pit, buried up to her neck, and then rocks will be thrown at her head until her skull is crushed and she dies a painful death.

In my dealings with other cultures, I do what I can to be respectful of cultural mores. However, I not only find this exercise in "justice" to be completely abhorent but I also feel it borders on an institutionalization of hatred and misogyny that needs to be addressed. If you are interested in learning more, the link is here

*sigh* What has happened to this world? Man, this is stupid. That punishment is too harsh for anyone. I find it sickening that human beings think that they can do this to another human being. I really cant stand it.

This case has been debated in Swedish media for a long time, so I am well familiar with it. Another Nigerian woman was judged to the same penalty a while ago, but eventually allowed to let go. A Nigerian man has already been sentenced and killed by stoning.

However, I am against death penalty generally...

I also try to respect different cultural beliefs and practices.... but when human lives are at stake, and people are robbed of basic justice and dignity...it is no longer about tolerance but about speaking out against something that is fundamentally wrong.

With today's standards of "political correctness" this has become a fine line, but IMO practices such as this are beyond appalling....

Originally posted by Tybaltus
*sigh* What has happened to this world? Man, this is stupid.

@Tyb, stuff like this is far from new. In fact, it's safe to say that similar codes of behavior have governed much of civilization (or what we call that) since humankind first evolved. Atrocities small and great litter history, if you care to find them.

The problem is getting the self-declared leaders of nations to pay attention to their past, so that they can move onto something better. If they don't, as Santayana indicated, they're doomed out of ignorance and rote tradition to repeat that past ad infinitum.

Originally posted by C Elegans
Another Nigerian woman was judged to the same penalty a while ago, but eventually allowed to let go. A Nigerian man has already been sentenced and killed by stoning.

This is interesting; many societies will sanction the woman severely, but won't levy any punishment against the man. After all, it does take two to commit adultery.

Knew about that on tv...

...and well, there must be some other way in which they should mete out the appropriate punishment.

For the sake of argument, if their culture demands the life of the offender, then there are other more humane ways in accomplishing this.

Isn't there a universal law that must be observed by all nations when it comes to this?

I understand that this is a cultural thing for them... is there a line that must be drawn and when must societies conform with international views and mores?

A bit harsh for having a child out of wedlock IMO. The worrying thing is that this decision was made by a (presumably legitimate) court system.

My pov on where to draw the line between accepting other cultures and not accepting imoral behaviour is this:

Any culture can be accepted to a full degree as long as it is not forced upon anyone else. (forced by threat of violence, indoctrination or whatever) My guess however is that this woman, or anyone else that is sentanced to death does not take the punishment willingly, and imo all cultures that forces such practices on their citizens should be forced to change to a more humanitarian aproach, no matter thier role in international politics.

Aside from this, I find the idea of punishing people for their sexlife imoral in itself, regardless degree of punishment.

Excellent, i was waiting for someone to start this thread.
The case is full of illogical conclusions and inconsistancies.
First the woman has a child out of wedlock, which i not accepted in Islam.
However the man is set free as there is no proof that he commited the crime.
Which is plain bull****.
If the woman by the testimony of others has slept with the man, and has had the child, both are to blame.
Yet the man is set free and the woman is fine.
The economist has a good article on this as well, in their recent edition.

There have been 3 cases so far in the past 2 years with similar standards.
1 of the woman was married to the same man that raped her.
The other was set free by a higher Shariah court
And this is the third.
The problem is that the man has been set free in violation of Shariah law.
While the woman is being held accountable alone.
Islamic law dictates that both are punishable.
The woman is to get lasses while the man is to be killed.
Only in the case of adultery are both killed.
In the case of rape the woman is left alone.
I have no ****ing idea what laws they implement.
But hell it aint shariah.

Also this is more a case of male oppression of women in an African country and incorrect implementation of Shariah.
It is sad to see idiots like this power.
I so hope to god i had the power to get rid of these insults to humanity and my religion.