New York, November 26, 2002—Islamic authorities in the northern
Nigerian state of Zamfara issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill Isioma
Daniel, a writer for the private daily
This Day, whose November
16 article about the Miss World pageant sparked deadly riots across
the country.
According to sources in the southern city of Lagos, the order to kill
Daniel was passed early this morning after a meeting between members
of the Zamfara State government and representatives of at least 20 Islamic
organizations.
Although the newspaper had retracted the story and issued several front-page
apologies, Zamfara State deputy governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi insisted
today that, "It is binding on all Muslims wherever they are, to consider
the killing of the writer as a religious duty."
"Freedom of expression is an international human right guaranteed to
all people everywhere by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Journalists
should never be threatened with violence or death because of what they
write, or because of the opinions they express."
Daniel, the style editor for the Lagos-based
This
Day, resigned from the paper and fled the country after repeatedly
apologizing for the article, which Muslim leaders said belittled Muslim
concerns about the country's decision to host the beauty contest. The
journalist wrote that the Prophet Mohammed probably would have chosen
a wife from among the women competing.
More than 200 people have been killed in Kaduna State and in the federal
capital, Abuja, where the pageant, now moved to London, was to take
place. Violence erupted after Nigeria's Supreme Islamic Council declared
in a statement that
This Day's article was a declaration of "total
war against Islam" and called all Muslims to attack paper.
On November 20, about 500 protesters, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is
great), marched to the paper's offices in the early morning and set
the building ablaze. Reuters quoted witnesses who said that the paper's
staff was not in the office at the time.
The next day, federal government spokesman Ufot Ekaette said that the
publication had clearly exceeded the bounds of responsible journalism
and would be punished "as provided by the law." So far, federal authorities
have taken no action against the paper. However, today, the federal
government promised the fatwa against Daniel would not be enforced.
On November 23, secret police arrested and questioned Simon Kolawole,
editor of
This Day's Saturday edition, about the offending article.
He remained in government custody as of November 25.
Zamfara was one of the first Nigerian states to adopt Islamic law, or
Sharia, in January 2000. At least 11 more of Nigeria's 36 states followed
suit, heightening tensions in the nominally secular federal republic,
which is divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a mostly Christian
south.
