HOC IN NIGERIA FOR TALKS WITH GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES ON THE DEATH PENALTY AND AMINA LAWAL

HOC’s visit to Nigeria aims to build upon President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assurances that Amina Lawal will not be stoned to death as higher appeal courts are sure to quash the punishment meted out to her by a Sharia tribunal.
HOC appreciates President Obasanjo’s stand and aims to support the efforts of the Federal government for the democratisation of the country and the development of human rights, in particular vis-à-vis the political utilisation of Sharia in the northern states.
HOC General Secretary Sergio D’Elia and the co-ordinator of the moratorium campaign Elisabetta Zamparutti are accompanied by MEP Benedetto della Vedova (Lista Bonino) and Italian MP Roberto Giachetti (Margherita) for the visit, which is part of an EU-funded project for a global moratorium on executions through a UN resolution. The delegation will discuss with high-level government authorities Nigeria’s position on the resolution that will be presented in the UN General Assembly in 2003. The delegation arrived in Abuja on Sunday 12th October and will stay all week.
The delegates will also meet Amina Lawal, who is currently appealing her death sentence for the second time after a Sharia appeals court in August confirmed the punishment meted out by a lower Sharia court in Katsina last March. HOC is also appealing to Miss World candidates to participate in the contest due to be held in Abuja in December and take a stand in Amina’s favour there, rather than boycott. HOC’s appeal was launched during the presentation of The Death Penalty Worldwide: 2002 Report at the European Parliament in Brussels. The appeal was supported at the launch by Miss Sweden Sophia Hedmark, Miss Italy Pamela Camassa, the Transnational Radical Party leader Marco Pannella and the Vice President of the European Parliament Renzo Embeni.
The 2002 Report is dedicated to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Obasanjo has given assurances that Amina Lawal will not be stoned to death, and he must be supported,” D’Elia said. “ Boycotting the contest in Abuja may mean reinforcing the northern states in their battle with Obasanjo for federal power.”
“This way we would be stoning a president because he is against stoning,” Pannella said. “By going to Abuja we would be supporting the president,” Hedmark said. “By boycotting we would be allowing the northern states to get away with fundamentalism.”
“It’s only through participation that we can bring our message to the world,” Camassa emphasised. However Miss Belgium Ann Van Elsen, also present at the 2002 Report launch, was in favour of a boycott of the contest.
"To organise a beauty pageant in a country where the rights of women are not respected should not happen this year or in the future," she said. Contestants from France, Denmark, Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Togo have also declared they will boycott. Miss Norway Katherine Sorland had initially withdrawn but has now adhered to Hands Off Cain’s appeal as have the organising committees of Miss Netherlands and Miss Germany and more recently Miss Finland.
The Vice President of the European Parliament Renzo Embeni welcomed Hands Off Cain’s report on the death penalty and strongly urged the democratic participation of all Miss World contestants.