Documentaries : Amina Lawal
"... an extraordinary documentary" Jonathan Mann, CNN
This documentary film formed the basis of a CNN 'Insight' one hour special and aired primetime on Thanksgiving Day 2002. Excerpts were broadcast in Italy by RAI and C5 and later in Britain in a C4 Despatches Documentary.
The Miss World Contest is about to take place in Nigeria. The threat of riot between Christians and Muslims is ever present and a Muslim woman, Amina Lawal is living under a Sharia Law death sentence, condemned to death by stoning for having a baby out of wedlock. The film starts with angry beauty queens in Brussels as they try and draw the international community's attention to Amina Lawal's case. Some threaten to boycott the event, while others want to go to Nigeria and use the contest to express their outrage.
Moving to Nigeria, the film examines the issues behind the case, focusing on the religious and political dynamics of this fledgling democracy where 50 per cent of the population is Muslim and the other 50 per cent Christian. The film presents a number of points of view including those of Stella Obasanjo, Nigeria's First Lady; the Archbishop of Lagos; the Imam of the capital, Abuja; Sharia Lawyers from Amina Lawal's state Katsina, who will hear her trial; a prominent Muslim civil rights spokesperson, many of the members of Nigeria's senate and of course Amina Lawal herself.
Amina Lawal was later acquitted on appeal by a Sharia Court in June 2003.
This documentary film formed the basis of a CNN 'Insight' one hour special and aired primetime on Thanksgiving Day 2002. Excerpts were broadcast in Italy by RAI and C5 and later in Britain in a C4 Despatches Documentary.
The Miss World Contest is about to take place in Nigeria. The threat of riot between Christians and Muslims is ever present and a Muslim woman, Amina Lawal is living under a Sharia Law death sentence, condemned to death by stoning for having a baby out of wedlock. The film starts with angry beauty queens in Brussels as they try and draw the international community's attention to Amina Lawal's case. Some threaten to boycott the event, while others want to go to Nigeria and use the contest to express their outrage.
Moving to Nigeria, the film examines the issues behind the case, focusing on the religious and political dynamics of this fledgling democracy where 50 per cent of the population is Muslim and the other 50 per cent Christian. The film presents a number of points of view including those of Stella Obasanjo, Nigeria's First Lady; the Archbishop of Lagos; the Imam of the capital, Abuja; Sharia Lawyers from Amina Lawal's state Katsina, who will hear her trial; a prominent Muslim civil rights spokesperson, many of the members of Nigeria's senate and of course Amina Lawal herself.
Amina Lawal was later acquitted on appeal by a Sharia Court in June 2003.