26.08.2002 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Administration of juvenile justice under Sharia [ID 14877]

"The recent introduction of Islamic or Shari'ah law in parts of northern Nigeria has created new deficiencies in the administration of juvenile justice. Under Shari'ah, the age of criminal responsibility is taken to be either 18 years or puberty. In cases involving fornication or adultery, which may attract flogging or the death penalty respectively, the age of responsibility is set at 15. The implication is that, in cases where children reach puberty earlier than 18 years, no distinction is made between them and adults in dispensing Shari'ah punishments.
In January 2001, a young girl, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, whose age was variously put at between 13 and 17 years, was subjected to 100 strokes of the cane in public in Zamfara State, after she gave birth to a child without being married."

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