Woman Shackled With Baby in Sudanese Prison Faces Stoning for Adultery
Sudanese mother Laila Ibrahim Issa Jamool, accused of adultery by her husband, will likely be executed by stoning unless those intervening on her behalf can convince a Sharia-based court to review her case.
The 23-year-old woman was convicted on July 10 in the capital Khartoum, and is currently being kept in prison with her six-month old baby, Sky News reported. It was not made apparent if or when the stoning would take place, however.
"The appeal is understood to take not less than one-and-a-half months before a response can be got from the court of appeal," said the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), a women's rights group that is working hard on the case and trying to save Jamool's life.
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"During all this time, Mrs Jamool will still be shackled in Omdurman women's prison together with her six-month-old child," the statement added.
SIHA also suggested that the baby is in "poor condition" based on the observances of lawyers coming in to see her mother, and said that they are working to provide professional psychosocial support and medical assessment to both Jamool and her baby.
"SIHA condemns all forms of corporal punishment, but especially as a result of the criminalization of personal behaviors," said Hala Alkarib, Director of SIHA. "The victimization of women as the result of complex socio-economic and cultural relationships must be stopped and Sudan must urgently adopt measure and laws that protect and respect the dignity and the human rights of Sudanese women."
Other human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have said that the conviction violates Sudanese criminal law and does not meet international standards.
"The stoning sentence was imposed after an unfair trial in which she was convicted solely on the basis of her confession and did not have access to a lawyer," Amnesty International said in a statement.
"Layla Ibrahim is the second case involving a death sentence against a woman by stoning for adultery in Sudan in recent months. On 13 May 2012, 20-year old Intisar Sharif Abdallah was sentenced to death, after an unfair trial, based solely on her confession, which was obtained under duress. On appeal Intisar Sharif Abdallah was retried and the charges against her were eventually dropped on 3 July. She was released on the same day," the organization added, affirming that they were against all forms of capital punishment.
