NIGERIAN GOVERNOR URGED TO APPROVE DEATH SENTENCES

the Sharia Commission in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi urged the state's new governor Isa Yuguda to approve three death by stoning penalties and 40 amputations passed since 2002 "to serve as a deterrent to others." The three death penalties were passed for sexual offences. Yunusa Rafin-Chiyawa, 36, was given the death sentence in 2002 for eloping and sleeping with his friend's wife. Umaru Tori, 45, was sentenced to death by stoning in 2004 for impregnating his 15-year-old stepdaughter. Jibrin Babaji, 22, was given the death sentence in 2002 for sodomy with a minor.