Young mother's execution temporarily stayed

Human rights groups have welcomed a temporary reprieve for a 21-year-old Yemeni woman who faced execution for the murder of her husband. The Italian NGO, Ricerca e Cooperazione, which has been working closely with the young woman’s lawyer, responded positively to the decision. However, the NGO still maintain that Amina Ali Abduladif’s sentence should be permanently commuted and the legal proceedings of her case thoroughly investigated. The case became the focus of international attention after human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) released a statement condemning her sentence. She was due to face the death sentence on 2 May. AI highlighted the fact that she was under 18, the legal age in Yemen for the sentence of capital punishment, when condemned in 1998. Yemeni newspapers reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh was "moved" when he heard of Abduladif's case and ordered a judicial investigation. The Attorney General of Yemen has appointed a special committee to review the case. The committee will investigate the issue of Abduladif's age during her trial, as well as the correctness of the proceedings surrounding it. Abduladif was convicted of her husband's murder on 14 January 1998. She was tried in her hometown of al-Mahaweet, 70 km north of the capital Sana. Since then, she has been incarcerated, first in the al-Mahaweet prison, then later in the women's central prison in Sana, awaiting execution. "I met Amina about four months ago, in the prison" Abduladif's lawyer, Shada Nasser told IRIN in Sana. "She told me she was 14 when she was tried, she was very young and she did not know her rights. She was only 11 when she got married," she added. Births are normally not recorded in Yemen outside the major cities. Consequently Abduladif does not have a birth certificate. According to her lawyer, her age was never considered during her trial. "Under Article 31 of Yemen's punishment law, Amina is not responsible for this crime because she was under 18," Nasser said. "The death penalty is always cruel, always unnecessary and always wrong. But with Amina, the case for commuting the death penalty is stronger than ever,” director of AI, Kate Allen, said in a recent statement. Another man, Muhammad Ali Said Qaba'il, was also convicted for the murder and sentenced to death, according to the lawyer. Qaba'il was the victim's cousin and the two had a financial dispute, Nasser said. “She [Amina] had reportedly been tortured to force her to confess, and has since maintained her innocence," the AI statement added. According to her lawyer, Abduladif was raped during her incarceration at al-Mahaweet prison. "In 2003, they moved her to the Sana prison. They said she tried to escape from the al-Mahaweet prison and they moved her. When they took her back to al-Mahaweet to execute her, she told them she was pregnant. She told me that she was raped in prison.” Abduladif gave birth to a son in prison, who has remained with her since birth. The US State Department Human Rights Report for 2004 reported that "at times, [Yemeni] male police and prison officials subjected female prisoners to sexual harassment and violent interrogation." Yemen's Ministry of Human Rights responded by stating that "no case of rape in prisons [was] recorded," and that "policemen or security guards are not allowed to enter women's prisons." According to Yemeni law, a woman may not be executed if she is pregnant, or during the course of breastfeeding her child. Abduladif's sentence was stayed until the beginning of this month, when her son reached approximately two years of age. Abduladif’s execution will be stayed until the committee report their findings to the Attorney General, who will then recommend to the President whether her sentence should be stayed or approved.