14-year Old Kano Child Bride, Faces Death Penalty For Allegedly Killing Husband

The father of a 14-year-old child bride who allegedly
murdered her husband said Thursday he was appealing to
a Nigerian court to spare his daughter from being sent to
the gallows.
Wasilat Tasi'u is on trial for the murder of her 35-year-old
husband, Umar Sani, who died after eating food that Tasi'u
allegedly laced with rat poison.
"We are appealing to the judge to consider Wasilat's plea,"
her father, Isyaku Tasi'u, told The Associated Press on
Thursday.
On Wednesday witnesses told the High Court in Gezawa, a
town 60 miles outside Nigeria's second largest city of Kano,
that Tasi'u killed her husband two weeks after their
wedding in April. Three others allegedly died after eating
the poisoned meal.
The prosecution, led by Lamido Soron-Dinki, senior state
council from the Kano State Ministry of Justice, is seeking
the death penalty.
The case calls into question the legality of trying a 14-year-
old for murder under criminal law and the rights of child
brides, who are common in the poverty-stricken,
predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria region.
"She was married to a man that she didn't love. She
protested but her parents forced her to marry him,"
Zubeida Nagee, a women's rights activist in Kano, told AP.
Nagee and other activists have written a letter of protest to
the Kano state deputy governor.
Nagee said Tasi'u was a victim of systematic abuse
endured by millions of girls in the region. Activists say the
blend of traditional customs, Islamic law and Nigeria's
constitutional law poses a challenge when advocating for
the rights of young girls in Nigeria.
Justice Mohammed Yahaya adjourned the court until
December 22. Tasi'u is in state juvenile custody.

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