Group condemns execution of Nigerian woman in Saudi Arabia

A group, Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), ASF France, also known as Lawyers without Borders, yesterday condemned the execution of a Nigerian woman in Saudi Arabia for drug related offences.
The woman was executed on April 1, 2019, reportedly alongside two Pakistani and a Yemeni by the Saudi government.
The body, in a statement by its Head of Office in Nigeria, Angela Uwandu, recalled that drug-related offences do not fall within the ambits of the “most serious offences” under international law.
It, therefore, urged the Saudi government to repeal the death penalty from its statute book and especially for drug-related offences.
The body further urged the Nigerian government and mission in Saudi to ensure full adherence and respect of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations for the about 20 Nigerians facing death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
Secretary of CAN, Kaduna State, Rev. (Dr) Sunday Ibrahim, said: “With this committee and the calibre of people in it, it means we are very serious as a country about this matter. We have seen situations where these people were intercepted but later freed without trial and then become threat to people around them.
“We have so many laws but we are not strict in enforcing these laws.
But the Secretary-General of JNI, Sheikh (Dr) Abubakar Khalid, who spoke at the headquarters of JNI in Kaduna, said: “I think the matter has gone so terrible and dangerous to the extent that all measures taken defiled solutions. Until a very decisive deterrent variable is taken as done elsewhere, we may not be able to tackle it.
“In Europe, Asia and the Middle East, when the menace reach this level, it is death penalty or a very draconian legal action with serious imprisonment and not the way we are toying with it like a toy or joke in this country.”