The amputees of Nigeria....

Sharia law creates a new class of people...

"Muslims, had no right under the law to question or review any judgment given by the Sharia Court as doing so would be tantamount to questioning the laws of Allah." ( Tuesday, March 30, 2010) ~ Mallam Ibrahim Lawal, Sharia Court Judge, Kaduna Nigeria.

A Sharia Court Judge called Mallam Ibrahim Lawal, in Magajin Gari, Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria on March 30, this year gave a three-minute judgment in which he pronounced his rulings in favor of the radical group known as the Muslim Brotherhood of Nigeria which wanted to put a stop to the online debate through social networking sites started by the advocacy group known as the Civil Rights Congress about the unjust amputation of a poor man's limb through Sharia law.

What sparked off this furor of recent online debate was a barbaric and inhuman amputation of the limb of a man called Buba Jangebe in the year 2000 after being found guilty of stealing a cow.

Another man Lawal Isa, also had his right hand cut off, after being convicted of stealing three bicycles. And presently, there are several dozens of people in jail awaiting amputation across Northern Nigerian States of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Kaduna, Borno, Gombe among others. What is also disturbing about this Sharia theft punishments, is that the victims upon being accused gets ostracized by their relatives and society, and the only way for them to get re-integrated back into the community is to accept amputation as a form of atonements for their sinful way that will transformed them from a thief into a religious person. Sadly, most of these Sharia law amputees in Nigeria became abandoned and distraught they eventually became beggars and destitute on the streets. Equally, disturbing, is that it is Medical Doctors who should be saving lives that carried out these amputations. To them, nothing is unethical and inhuman. Why can't Nigeria Medical Association expel or sanction their members who amputated people limbs for Sharia law offences? Alas! Nigeria Medical Association have let the country down because they failed to act against these barbaric practices when they are needed most.