Sharia and Adultery

Vin Ienco: ISLAMIC SHARIA LAW AND ADULTERY

♦ Under Islamic law, rape can only be proven if the rapist confesses or if there are four male witnesses. Women who allege rape, without the benefit of the act having been witnessed by four men who subsequently develop a conscience, are actually confessing to having sex. If they or the accused happens to be married, then it is considered to be adultery.

♦ The Qur'an:

Qur'an (2:282) - Establishes that a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man's in court (there is no "he said/she said" gridlock in Islam).

Qur'an (24:4) - "And those who accuse free women then do not bring four witnesses (to adultery), flog them..."

Qur'an (24:13) - "Why did they not bring four witnesses of it? But as they have not brought witnesses they are liars before Allah."

♦ From the Hadith:

Bukhari (5:59:462) - The background for the Qur'anic requirement of four witnesses to adultery. Muhammad's favorite wife, Aisha, was accused of cheating [on her polygamous husband]. Three witnesses corroborated the event, but Muhammad did not want to believe it, and so established the arbitrary rule that four witnesses are required.

♦ Rape is virtually impossible to prove under Islamic law (Sharia) and even in more moderate countries. If the man claims that the act was consensual sex, there is very little that the woman can do to refute this. Islam places the burden of avoiding sexual encounters of any sort on the woman.

♦ A few of the many many cases of Sharia in action, applied to adultery.

♦ Afghanistan: (March 1996) Some strict interpretations of Islamic law calls for the death penalty for any woman found in the company of a man other than a close family member. Sexual activity is assumed to have happened.

A woman, Jamila, was found guilty of trying to leave the country with such a man. She was caught and stoned to death on 28th March 1996

♦ Afghanistan: (November 2006): Under the Taliban regime, a woman, Nurbibi, 40, and a man Turylai, 38, were stoned to death in a public assembly using palm-sized stones. They were found guilty of non-marital sex.

Turylai was dead within ten minutes, but Nurbibi had to be finished off by dropping a large rock on her head.

Mr. Wali, head of the Office for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prohibition of Vice expressed satisfaction with the execution: "...I am very happy, because it means that the rule of Islam is being implemented." These executions (as well as hand amputations for convicted thieves) are regarded as religious occasions and are not normally viewed by non-Muslims.

♦ United Arab Emirates: (February 2000): Kartini Karim, an unmarried citizen of Indonesia, was working as a housemaid in the United Arab Emirates when her pregnancy was detected. She and a man from of India were charged with adultery.

She was convicted; he fled the country before he could be arrested. She was placed on trial without a lawyer or a translator, "...alone and equipped with barely any word of the local language,". She was not told that she had a right to communicate with her embassy. Her embassy was not informed in advance of the trial.

She was sentenced to death by stoning. The Indonesian government hired a lawyer and translator to appeal her case.
On APR-25 2000, the appeals court reduced her sentence to one year in prison, followed by deportation.

♦ United Arab Emirates: (August 2000): A woman, "Amina Abdullahi is sentenced to 100 lashes in the state of Zamfara for having premarital sex."

♦ United Arab Emirates: (November 2000): Attine Tanko, 18, is found guilty of having pre-marital sex out of wedlock. She was discovered to be pregnant. Her sentence of 100 lashes was deferred for up to two years after the birth, so that she could breastfeed her baby. Her boyfriend, 23, was flogged 100 times and given jail time.

♦ Nigeria: (September 2001): A teenage single mother, Bariya Magazu claimed at trial that she was raped by three men. The court assumed that she was guilty, because she could not prove that her father pressured her to engage in sexual activity with the men.

She was found guilty of two offenses: having pre-marital sex, and bringing false charges against the men that she claimed were responsible. Her sentence was 180 lashes.

♦ Nigeria: (October 2001): Safiya Hussaini, a 30-year-old pregnant woman, had asked a Sharia court in Sokoto state to force a man that she alleged had raped her, to pay for her daughter's naming ceremony. The court refused, and then charged her with engaging in sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

She was sentenced to be stoned to death. The man that she allegedly had sex with was freed by the court for lack of evidence.

She had not been given any legal representation, and the court had failed to establish the basic facts of the case.

♦ Sudan: (December 2001): An 18 year-old pregnant woman, Alfa Akok, was accused by her husband of adultery. She claimed that she had been raped.
The man co-accused with Abok was not tried due to lack of evidence.

In Sudan, a married person found guilty of adultery is executed by stoning; an unmarried person receives 100 lashes. She had no lawyer, and was unaware of her rights during the trial.

The Court of Appeal in Southern Darfur overturned the death sentence and sent the case back to the lawyer court which set punishment at 75 lashes. By immediately executing the sentence, she was denied her right to obtain legal advice and/or an launch an appeal prior to the beating.

♦Nigeria: (March 2002): Safiya Hussaini, 33, was convicted of adultery. She was sentenced to be buried up to her neck in sand and to be stoned to death. However, her sentence was deferred until her 13-month-old daughter has finished nursing.

She appealed her conviction. Her cousin, a Mr. Abubakar allegedly confessed to police that he had sex with her three times. However, the judge dismissed the testimony of the three policemen who witnessed Abubakar's confession, because a minimum of four witnesses are required under Sharia law.

Mansur Ibrahim Said, Dean of the Law Faculty at Dakar University in Sokoto said that adultery is "an abomination abhorred by God and society because of the example it gives and because it creates bastards to be rejected by society."

The appeals court later reversed the lower court conviction. They ruled that the alleged act had taken place before Sharia law was activated in the province, and adultery became a criminal offence.

There was strong international interest in her case. The European Union, the parliament of Italy and many non-governmental organizations successfully appealed for Safiya to be spared.

♦ Nigeria: (March 2002): A woman, Amina Kurami, from village of Kurami was sentenced to death for adultery. The sentence was delayed for eight months until she has finished breast feeding her infant.

She appealed the conviction, on the basis that the offence occurred before Sharia law came into effect. The appeal was rejected by the Islamic High Court.
Dozens of spectators cheered and shouted "God is great".
Her case was eventually dismissed.

♦ Nigeria: (April 2002): A 19 year old woman, Adama Unusua was sentenced to 100 lashes court, for engaging in sexual intercourse with her fiancé. She was pregnant at the time of the trial.

♦Nigeria: (June 2002): A man, Yunusa Chiwaya was convicted of adultery and was sentenced to be stoned to death.

He had confessed to engaging in sexual activities with his neighbor's wife, and had declined multiple opportunities to withdraw his confession.

The woman in the case was cleared after she swore on the Qur'an that she had been hypnotized before she left home with him.

♦ Pakistan: (Present Day). In the overflowing womens prisons, 75-80 percent of the women are there for life for the crime of… being raped !!



♦ IS SHARIA LAW WHAT WE WANT FOR OUR COUNTRIES?♦

(women prisoners in Iran)