Madam, - The Nigerian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence on Amina Lawal for the crime of adultery. She is to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death. Her death has been postponed for one month so that she can continue to nurse her baby.
Amina's case is being handled by the Spanish branch of Amnesty International, which is attempting to put together enough signatures to make the Nigerian government rescind the death sentence. (A similar campaign saved another Nigerian woman, Safiya, condemned in similar circumstances.) The petition has so far (as of April 7th) amassed over 4,100,000 signatures. May I ask your readers to add their voices to the campaign to save Amina Lawal's life? The Amnesty International online petition can be accessed at the following address: www.amnistiaporsafiya.org/ I am appalled by the sentence itself; I am sickened by the grotesquery of mind that considers humane the postponement of the stoning so that the baby can be suckled. - Your, etc.,
PAULA MEEHAN Baldoyle, Dublin 13