Nigeria’s Zamfara Sharia Court Orders Amputation

ICC Note

Sharia court sentenced two youths to amputation of their right hands after they were found guilty of stealing a bull. Sharia law is applied in northern Nigeria where Christian minorities face persecution at the hands of Muslims.

09/09/2011 Nigeria (BBC News)-An Islamic court in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state has sentenced two youths to amputation of their right hands for stealing a bull.

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Nigeria’s government recognises aspects of Islamic law in its 12 mainly Muslim northern states.

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‘Market day amputation’

“Based on the admission of guilt by the two of you of trespassing into the house… and stealing a bull whose worth is well above the minimum value to warrant amputation, I hereby order that each of you should have his right wrist amputated,” Judge Muhammadu Abubakar told the convicts.

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The sentence would take place on “market day [8 October] for members of the public to witness”, Judge Abubakar said.

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Zamfara was the first northern state to introduce Islamic law after Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.

In 2000, Buba Jangebe made history as the first Nigerian to have an amputation carried out after the re-introduction of Islamic law after being found guilty of stealing a cow.

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