A six-year-old Nigerian boy faces a possible death...

A six-year-old Nigerian boy faces a possible death sentence after a four-month-old girl drowned in his care. The boy, who lives in the Dutsen Reme quarters in the town of Bakori in Katsina State, northern Nigeria, was asked to carry the child to her mother. That was the last time the baby, Nana Fidalausi, was seen alive. She was found floating in a pond.
The boy and a middle-aged neighbour who had asked him to take the crying baby to her mother, appeared in the Katsina Chief Magistrate's Court. The boy is charged with culpable homicide punishable by death, while the man faces negligence charges.
Another boy, 15, was sentenced to have his hand amputated for stealing 32,000 naira (about $US130) from a businessman's house. A Birnin Kebbi Upper Sharia Court is implementing the Islamic legal code, which states that thieves who steal more than 1 000 naira face amputation. The 15-year-old boy's sentence is subject to ratification by the Kebbi State Sharia Implementation Committee, which in turn will send its recommendation to the State Executive Council for final approval.
Nine northern Nigerian states have adopted the Sharia code. Though the code is unacceptable to the national government, it appears helpless to deal with it because the 1999 constitution, hurriedly drawn up by the last military regime, is ambiguous on the code.