#7- Disagreement Arises over Questioning Sharia Law

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A March 25th article on CNN reveals the decision by a Northern Nigerian Islamic court to ban a discussion of amputating criminals as punishments for crimes (usually in the realm of stealing) on the Internet by the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria. The court decision comes after the Congress created a Facebook group dedicated to talking about Mallam Bello Jangebe, whose right hand was amputated after he was found guilty of stealing a cow in 2000 as well as the use of amputations as punishment in general. However, many people, including the pro-Sharia law group who challenged the Congress, found the Facebook page insulting. The group said "debate on social sites would mock the strict Islamic law as negative issues will be discussed." The pro-Sharia group's concerns are made valid at the end of the article as the lone comment on the Facebook page says "Islam is trying to shut down free speech worldwide." The president of the Congress, Shehu Sani, doesn't believe any harm was meant and plans to challenge the court's decision to ban the page. As this struggle continues, it will be interesting to see how much of a role religion will play in determining public policy and politics in Nigeria.

This article opens up more problems related to the influence of religion in Nigeria. As mentioned in the article, an Islamic court made the decision to ban the Facebook page. Because the case dealt with Sharia law, which is law governed by Islamic beliefs, having a religious court may have been the reason why the pro-Sharia group was favored. This also ties back to the most important aspect of a nation, legitimacy. If religion and state are not separated, at least in the Muslim-dominated north where this case occurred, the legitimacy of the country is compromised. This is especially true in Nigeria where two religions, Islam and Christianity, equally dominate. In addition, the fact that the courts did not want its citizens questioning its methods of punishing its criminals goes back to transparency. Obviously the Nigerian government does not want its people to think otherwise about their criminal system. The use of the Internet in this case draws parallels to two of the other countries in our studies- Iran and China. Nigerians are turning to the Internet to question their government like in Iran and the Internet is now being throughly searched as in China. Denying citizens the right to dissent is a basic human right that is more often than not an essential part to building a democracy. This, along with the dominance of religion in political life, highlights a few of the many changes Nigeria needs to tackle on the road to improving the country.

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