Nigeria, host of this year’s Miss World pageant, has warned beauty queens competing in the contest to avoid parts of the country where Shariah law is enforced, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Culture and Tourism Minister Boma Bromillow-Jack said organisers were warned to stay away from the dozen Nigerian states that have adopted Shariah, or Islamic law, after Muslim groups threatened to disrupt the pageant.
”We have told the people (organisers) not to allow the ladies to go to Zamfara and other Shariah states because of the risks involved,” the minister told reporters on Friday, according to the Vanguard newspaper.
The pageant is scheduled for November 30 in the capital, Abuja. Abuja is not under Islamic law. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Muslim groups in Nigeria have denounced the pageant as immoral and said they will prevent it from taking place, but have not threatened any specific action. They are particularly incensed by the swimsuit competition.
Islamic law prescribes harsh punishments such as flogging for Muslim women who expose too much flesh in public, amputations for theft and death sentences for adultery Shariah courts in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north have sentenced at least two women to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage. A Muslim appeals will rule on Aug. 19 whether to overturn the latest sentence, given to 30-year-old Amina Lawal.
The first woman, Safiya Hussaini, had her sentence overturned in March by a similar court. Nigeria applied to host the pageant after a Nigerian, Agbani Darego, was crowned Miss World last year.
The US State Department renewed its warning to US citizens against travelling to Nigeria last week citing violent crime committed by ordinary criminals and people in police and military uniforms and ongoing ethnic and religious conflicts ? some triggered by the introduction of Shariah.
Thousands have died in bloody conflicts across the country since President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999, ending 16 years of military rule. – Sapa-AP