Marchers demand stricter Islamic law
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KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Hundreds of Nigerian Muslims marched in the northern city of Kano on Monday to press for a stricter implementation of the sharia Islamic penal code, witnesses said.
The protesting members of the Kadariyya group said they were worried that alcohol was still sold and prostitution practised in Nigeria's second largest city four years after the state adopted the new legal code and three years after hundreds died in Muslim-Christian riots that rocked Kano.
Residents said the demonstrators marched to the palace of the city's influential emir, before proceeding to the regional parliament where they presented their petition.
"It has become compulsory for the government to implement sharia practically. We are tired of lip service," Sheikh Abdul Jabber Nasir Kabara said before handing over a copy of the petition to the leadership of the state House of Assembly.
Kano is one of 12 northern states that adopted sharia in 1999 when Africa's most populous nation held elections ending 15 years of military rule.
Sharia punishes adultery with stoning to death, while alcohol sellers can expect to be flogged.
The introduction of sharia has further polarised religious debate in multi-ethnic Nigeria, where more than 10,000 people have died in sectarian violence in the past four years.
Kano has a significant Christian minority drawn mainly from the country's southeast and southwest. Non-Muslims cannot be tried in sharia courts, but they are indirectly affected by the increasingly hard line adopted by the Muslim majority.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
