Wasila Tasi’u is 14 year old Nigerian Girl charged to court over accusation of lacing food prepared for a celebration two weeks after her wedding with rat poison, killing her 35-year-old husband, Umar Sani, and three others.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty if she is convicted at Gezawa High Court in northern Nigeria. Hussaina Ibrahim, a senior lawyer at the Kano branch of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) who is representing Tasi’u says the teenager has “no business” being on trial.
“We are against the trial. The whole process violates her fundamental rights. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says she should be in education. She should be in school,” she says. You can read the whole story here Is there hope for the child bride accused of murder in Nigeria?
Forced/Child marriage is prevalent in the Northern part of Nigeria amongst the Muslim communities. The girl child's education is stunted due to prevalent ignorance and illiteracy among parents who indulge in acts like this.
Wasila Tasi’u is another glaring case. She was forcefully married off to a 35 year old Man at the age of 14 when most of her mates in other states of Nigeria or other countries are in school getting an education.
She had to endure sexual, physical and emotional abuse to the extent that the late husband ties her on the bed raping her all night long. Imagine the plight of this 14 year old girl.
Whether she is guilty of the crime she was accused of is not an option to saving her from the detractors who seek to prosecute her. We are joining our voices to the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child to demand that Nigerian and Kano State Government should set her free and stop all further trial on this case.
We have to support FIDA to ensure her freedom from death penalty. Kindly sign and share this petition to get signatures to help in campaigning against child marriage and Wasu Tasui freedom.
