Information on the Bwari Sharia Court in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

As well, documentary references to the application of sharia in Bwari, a local government area with a population of 30,928 (Nigeria Congress 2003), and Abuja, FCT, could not be found. However, a senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom who authored The Talibanization of Nigeria: Sharia Law and Religious Freedom said, in correspondence with the Research Directorate, that "some form of sharia is present throughout Nigeria, governing personal law" (25 Oct. 2003). In addition, an analysis of Nigeria's judicial system by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) contends that each of Nigeria's 36 states as well as Abuja, FCT, have sharia and customary courts of appeal (13 Aug. 2001).

The 1999 Constitution provides for the creation of a Sharia Court of Appeal of the FCT, Abuja, a Customary Court of Appeal of the FCT, Abuja, and, at the discretion of each state, a Sharia Court of Appeal of a State and a Customary Court of Appeal of a State (Nigeria 1999, Chapter VII). The Research Directorate's Issue Paper of April 2003 entitled Nigeria: State Protection which includes detailed information on the judiciary and sharia law, can be consulted online and at regional documentation centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Geneva. 13 August 2001. "Nigeria-Attacks on Justice 2000." http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=2583&lang=en [Accessed 6 Nov. 2003]

Nigeria. 1999. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chapter VII, The Judicature. (Nigeria Congress) http://www.nigeriacongress.org/resources/constitution/Constitution%20of%20the%20Federal%20Republic%20of%20Nigeria.pdf [Accessed 6 Nov. 2003]

The Nigeria Congress. 2003. "Bwari Local Government Area." http://www.nigeriacongress.org/fgn/administrative/lgadetails.asp?state=fct,%20abuja&lg=Bwari [Accessed 24 Oct. 2003]

Senior Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom (CRF), Freedom House, New York. 25 October. 2003. Correspondence.

Dialog

IRB Databases

Internet sites, including:

Africa Confidential

Africa Online

AllAfrica.com

Amnesty International (AI)

Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation/United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (ACCORD/UNHCR). November 2002. "Nigeria. Country Report." Final Report on the 8th European Country of Origin Information Seminar, 28-29 June 2002, Vienna. The report is based on presentations by Enrique Restoy, Nigeria Researcher, Amnesty International London, and Heinz Jockers, Institute for African Studies, Hamburg, on 28 June 2002.

BBC Africa

Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN)

Center for Religious Freedom (CRF), Freedom House, New York. 2002. The Talibanization of Nigeria: Sharia Law and Religious Freedom. Washington, DC: Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House.

Daily Times Online

European County of Origin Information Network

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

International Coalition for Religious Freedom

Nigeria Daily

Peters, Ruud and Barends, Maartens. September 2001. The Reintroducation of Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria: A Study Conducted on Behalf of the European Commission.

U.S. Department of State

Vanguard

World News Connection (WNC)

Search engine:

Google