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Govt orders stop to flogging sentence

Microfinance unit of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF Microfinance) UNCDF
The new EARS system will ensure the money is properly spent
    MBABANE
    Nigeria said on Friday it would not allow a flogging sentence passed on a 17-year-old girl for premarital sex under Islamic law in the country's northern Zamfara State, the Associated Press reported on Friday. "As a government we will not tolerate the abuse of the right of any Nigerian," Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia was quoted as saying. He said that the Zamfara authorities had been ordered to desist from carrying out the sentence of 180 strokes of the cane on Bariya Ibrahim Magazu. The central government's intervention followed an official Canadian a protest reported in that country's 'Globe and Mail' newspaper. Ottawa had condemned the sentence as "cruel and unusual punishments involving mutilation and excessive pain (which) violate international standards of human treatment".

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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