Thursday, November 13, 2008

Preacher with 86 wives gets court reprieve

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian court said an 84-year-old Islamic preacher with 86 wives should be released from jail after he was held for failing to heed a call by local leaders to divorce all but four of the women, his lawyer said.

The authorities in central Niger state had charged Mohammed Bello with "insulting religious" creed and "unlawful marriages" after local chiefs and Muslim leaders gave him a September 7, 2008 deadline to comply with sharia, Islamic law, which allows a man to have no more than four wives.

He was jailed after he failed to comply.

"The Federal High Court granted Bello unconditional release yesterday," defense lawyer David Ikotun told Reuters by phone from Abuja.

Niger is one of 12 predominantly Islamic northern states that started a stricter enforcement of sharia eight years ago.


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