ASF France, an international human rights group, has revealed that 82 Nigerian women are currently on death row in different prisons across the country.
The Country Director of ASF France in Nigeria, Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, shared this during a training on gender and death penalty issues in Abuja. She said this is one of the highest numbers in sub-Saharan Africa.
She explained that many of these women have been forgotten and neglected, and that the death penalty is not gender-neutral. According to her, women face bias from arrest to trial and even inside prison.
Uzoma-Iwuchukwu said many of the women were once victims of domestic violence. When they defend themselves and someone dies, the system does not see them as victims. Instead, they suffer more discrimination.
She added that poverty is another major reason women land on death row, as most cannot afford quality legal defence.
She also shared the story of a young woman in Katsina who was sentenced to death by stoning for getting pregnant outside marriage. ASF France later helped her win the case at the Court of Appeal.
Uzoma-Iwuchukwu called for a moratorium on executions, saying women who survived violence should be treated as victims when courts are sentencing them.
Dr. Chioma Kanu of the Mothers and Marginalised Advocacy Centre also said families suffer when the justice system fails. She noted that not everyone on death row is truly guilty, as some are convicted through forced confessions or lack of legal support.
She added, “We can free an innocent person, but we cannot bring back someone wrongly executed.”
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