/ 2 January 2001

NIGERIAN GIRL GIVES BIRTH, FACES LASHES

A TEENAGE girl who has just given birth in northern Nigeria now faces 180 lashes on conviction of premarital sex by an Islamic court in Zamfara state. Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, 17, was sentenced to be flogged by a court at Isafe in September, but the punishment was not to be carried out until at least 40 days after she had had her baby. A family member said it was unclear when she would receive her sentence or whether she might get a reprieve following an outcry by human rights groups. Magazu named three middle-aged men as being the possible father, saying that all three had paid her to have sex with them against her wishes. AFP