An African National Congress Women’s League delegation is scheduled to depart for Nigeria at 2pm on Tuesday as part of the organisation’s campaign to save Amina Lawal, the ANC Youth League said.
Lawal (31) is a Nigerian citizen facing death by stoning for having a baby outside wedlock.
ANC Youth League spokesperson Khulekani Ntshangase said the delegation, to be led by Women’s League president Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Gauteng provincial minister of safety and liaison Nomvula Mokonyane, would address reporters at noon before their departure at the Johannesburg International airport.
”The plight of Lawal is a case which represents the suffering of millions of women in the continent and around the globe,” he said.
”While we respect Nigeria’s sovereignty, we think some of their laws are backwards and are abusive to women’s rights, which are entrenched in the African Union’s constitution.”
Ntshangase said a Southern Africa Development Community women’s delegation would join the Women’s League in Nigeria this week.
Lawal was sentenced in March last year under Islamic law to be stoned to death for having a baby two years after getting divorced.
She brought her appeal to an Islamic court in the northern city of Katsina on August 28 and the court adjourned its decision on the appeal until September 25. — Sapa