attached mail follows:
NEWS
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Phone: (212) 465-1004
Fax: (212) 465-9568 Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: media@cpj.org
http://www.cpj.org Contact: Yves Sorokobi
e-mail: info@cpj.org Telephone: (212) 465-1004 x112
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
NIGERIA: MUSLIM LEADERS ISSUE FATWA ON JOURNALIST
Police detain editor
New York, November 26, 2002-Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian
state of Zamfara issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill Isioma Daniel, a
writer for the private daily This Day, whose November 16 article about the
Miss World pageant sparked deadly riots across the country.
According to sources in the southern city of Lagos, the order to kill Daniel
was passed early this morning after a meeting between members of the Zamfara
State government and representatives of at least 20 Islamic organizations.
Although the newspaper had retracted the story and issued several front-page
apologies, Zamfara State deputy governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi insisted
today that, "It is binding on all Muslims wherever they are, to consider the
killing of the writer as a religious duty."
"Freedom of expression is an international human right guaranteed to all
people everywhere by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Journalists should never
be threatened with violence or death because of what they write, or because
of the opinions they express."
Daniel, the style editor for the Lagos-based This Day, resigned from the
paper and fled the country after repeatedly apologizing for the article,
which Muslim leaders said belittled Muslim concerns about the country's
decision to host the beauty contest. The journalist wrote that the Prophet
Mohammed probably would have chosen a wife from among the women competing.
More than 200 people have been killed in Kaduna State and in the federal
capital, Abuja, where the pageant, now moved to London, was to take place.
Violence erupted after Nigeria's Supreme Islamic Council declared in a
statement that This Day's article was a declaration of "total war against
Islam" and called all Muslims to attack paper.
On November 20, about 500 protesters, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is
great), marched to the paper's offices in the early morning and set the
building ablaze. Reuters quoted witnesses who said that the paper's staff
was not in the office at the time.
The next day, federal government spokesman Ufot Ekaette said that the
publication had clearly exceeded the bounds of responsible journalism and
would be punished "as provided by the law." So far, federal authorities have
taken no action against the paper. However, today, the federal government
promised the fatwa against Daniel would not be enforced.
On November 23, secret police arrested and questioned Simon Kolawole, editor
of This Day's Saturday edition, about the offending article. He remained in
government custody as of November 25.
Zamfara was one of the first Nigerian states to adopt Islamic law, or
Sharia, in January 2000. At least 11 more of Nigeria's 36 states followed
suit, heightening tensions in the nominally secular federal republic, which
is divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a mostly Christian
south.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in Nigeria, visit www.cpj.org.
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