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Niger: First-ever slavery conviction for “fifth wife”

May 31, 2014 9:11 am By Robert Spencer

slavery in NigerThis article epitomizes the willful ignorance and self-imposed blindness of the British intelligentsia regarding Islam. The BBC says below that “men in Niger are allowed to have four wives under a local interpretation of Islamic law.” A local interpretation of Islamic law? Oh, so the Qur’an is local to Niger, now? The Qur’an says: “And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then one or those your right hand possesses. That is more suitable that you may not incline to injustice.” (4:3)

So the idea that a man can have as many as four wives is not some “local interpretation of Islamic law” that they dreamed up in Niger, but is stated in what Muslims believe to be the word of Allah himself. The BBC doesn’t want to acknowledge that, because then it would have to confront unpleasant questions about Muslims in the UK — and it’s easier to condemn “Islamophobia” and pretend that all is well.

Meanwhile, these “fifth wives” appear to be those referred to in this same Qur’an passage as “those your right hand possesses.” Thus there is nothing illegal about such arrangements in Islamic law, but under pressure from human rights and anti-slavery groups, Niger finally banned slavery in 2003, and now, eleven years later, is finally getting around to prosecuting someone for it.

However, as this article notes, “thousands of people still live in subjugation,” so there are going to have to be a lot more prosecutions before Niger can truly be said to be serious about stopping slavery. And because slavery is sanctioned in Islam, it is unlikely that Niger is ever going to be all that serious about stopping the practice.

“Niger sees first slavery conviction over ‘fifth wife,'” BBC, May 28, 2014 (thanks to John):

A man has been sentenced to four years in jail in Niger in the first ever conviction for slavery in the country.

The pressure group Anti-Slavery International told the BBC the 63-year-old man was convicted of having what is known as a “fifth wife”.

Men in Niger are allowed to have four wives under a local interpretation of Islamic law.

With a “fifth wife”, no marriage takes place and the woman is treated solely as property.

Niger officially banned slavery in 2003 but anti-slavery organisations say thousands of people still live in subjugation.

The conviction took place in the town of Birnin Konni in south-west Niger, close to the border with Nigeria.

Anti-Slavery International says “fifth wives” are often girls of slave descent sold to wealthy men who view the purchase of young women as a sign of prestige.

The women face a lifetime of physical and psychological abuse and forced labour, the group says.

The case was taken to court by Anti-Slavery’s partners in Niger, Timidria.

Sarah Mathewson, Africa Programme Co-ordinator at Anti-Slavery International, said it was “incredible” to achieve a conviction.

“It’s been over 10 years since the law against slavery was passed in Niger and we’ve worked since then to bring perpetrators of slavery to justice,” she said.

“We hope that this judgment will serve as a catalyst for more prosecutions, as we are pursuing many other cases before the courts.”

In a landmark case in 2008, the West African regional body Ecowas found Niger’s government guilty of failing to protect a woman from slavery. It ordered the government to pay compensation to the victim.

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Comments

  1. Aardvark says

    May 31, 2014 at 9:55 am

    Actually, it seems that mohammedans in the UK are permitted to have up to four wives under a local interpretation of British law!

    And they can claim benefits for all of them.

    Beats working for a living.

    • judith roth says

      Jun 1, 2014 at 11:42 am

      Yes, this is true.

  2. john spielman says

    May 31, 2014 at 9:56 am

    if muslims men can have up to 4 wives and the birth rate of male to female is roughly 1 to 1, where do they get all their women? Do they raid nonmulsim areas and routinely take kufir women, or do the rest of muslim men stay celebate or become homosexual?

    • Aardvark says

      May 31, 2014 at 10:36 am

      Seems to be both of those.

      Kidnapping Christian women is common – after all, Mohammed himself did it. The recent atrocity committed by Boko Haram is not a one-off event, just on a larger scale than usual.

      Homosexuality is also common in mohammedan countries, despite the stringent punishments if they are caught.

      And, of course, don’t forget the goats!

      • Isabella says

        May 31, 2014 at 1:32 pm

        I know someone who was working in Saudi Arabia and one day, the man was up in the air fixing something on the microwave tower. All of a sudden, he saw a man in the field having sex with one of his goats. The observer made sure the peasant (paysan) did not see him because his life would have been in danger.

        • gravenimage says

          May 31, 2014 at 7:38 pm

          Good grief, Isabella—so these thugs not only abuse their poor goats—they would be willing to *commit murder* if anyone sees them at it?

          What a bunch of immoral thugs Muslims are…

      • Charli Main says

        May 31, 2014 at 2:48 pm

        “and ,of course don´t forget the goats “. Not a problem for Muslims feeling the “need”
        ” there is no punishment for having intercourse with a dead woman or animal ”
        Al Khalib Al Sherbini 2-521

    • gravenimage says

      May 31, 2014 at 7:33 pm

      John Spielman wrote:

      if muslims men can have up to 4 wives and the birth rate of male to female is roughly 1 to 1, where do they get all their women? Do they raid nonmulsim areas and routinely take kufir women, or do the rest of muslim men stay celebate or become homosexual?
      …………………..

      Good question, John. In many cases, as noted, Muslims abduct Infidel women.

      But even with this raiding, with polygamy there often *is* a “woman shortage”, and that does lead to “situational” homosexuality (that is, homosexual activity by otherwise heterosexual men—usually found only in prisons in the West).

      But it also leads to a lot of frustration—and much of that frustration is deliberately channeled into unattached young men being urged to wage violent Jihad.

      That these prospective “Shahids” are told that they will have 72 virgins in paradise if they die while fighting infidels or blowing themselves up in suicide bombings is especially attractive to Muslims in polygamous societies who cannot afford to marry—or to buy sex slaves.

      God, I hate Islam.

  3. mortimer says

    May 31, 2014 at 10:27 am

    Willful ignorance is not a defense in law. In fact, Western Leftists are guilty of CONTRIVED IGNORANCE in the matter of Islam.

    Cultural Marxists court the votes of Muslims and pretend to themselves that Islam is not a violent, fascist and totalitarian ideology.

    LISTEN UP: totalitarian Islam is the only version of Islam.

    • PRCS says

      May 31, 2014 at 12:14 pm

      What?

      You mean there’s no such thing as “radical” Islam?

      • dlbrand says

        May 31, 2014 at 1:04 pm

        Please, somebody, show and tell us of the “peaceful, noble, proud-worthy Islam” we should welcome and support.

  4. Walter Sieruk says

    May 31, 2014 at 11:00 am

    This article brings to mind the teachings of the Bible. Which reads “Whoever steals someone to sell as a slave or to keep them for their own slave must be killed.” Exodus 21:16. [ERV]

  5. Arjay says

    May 31, 2014 at 11:07 am

    In 2003 Niger finally outlawed slavery and in 2014 here has been the first criminal legal action against slavery. This is a black African nation and this is taking place in the 21st century. This sovereign black nation has slavery and Black Muslims and Arab Muslims are using their faith and the Koran to commit these acts in the 21st century.

    Yet we hear virtually NOTHING about this in the Western media. The founder of Islam was a slave owner who gained his human property by engaging in warfare and horrific acts of genocide.

    How many slaves did the following (supposedly) divine beings and mortals- all who have religions, faith denominations, spiritual movements or philosophies founded or inspired by them… how many of them owned slaves? Jesus Christ, Buddha, Dali Lama, The Angel Moroni, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Confucius, Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science), Martin Luther, L. Ron Hubbard… etcetera…

    With religion or cult… faith or philosophy… none of these people or beings owned slaves or were involved in the slave trade. Mohammed was involved. Oh, Moses as an adopted Egyptian prince… owned slaves, but I think we all know how he kind of changed his mind about the whole forced servitude thing.

    I cannot comprehend the idiots who if they do know of slavery in present day Islamic nations… will then state that the Bible was used to support slavery… and then condemn Christians and Jews. In modern times and in the 2010s, I still hear this line of BS. Seriously?

    The British Empire ended slavery in 1820. Though sadly some of its colonies persisted in the practice despite attempts to eradicate it. By this I mean the indigenous ethnic black tribal cultures and the Arab Islamist influences in those places- continued the practice… and of course after independence from Europe; many of these BLACK or BLACK/ARAB nations began to be more open and brazen with their support of slavery.

    Still throughout the empire- including the Americas (and thus the Caribbean), the British OUTLAWED slavery. Then the USA ended slavery in the 1860s. The US Civil War had many origins and factors… of which there was the slavery issue. Hundreds of thousands of white Americans died in this conflict… so that now “Juneteenth” is celebrated.

    Then in 1880 the last hold-out in the West, the South American powerhouse of Brazil ended slavery. Now there is still technically one nation in the West where slavery is commonly practiced even if technically not legal. The earthquake of a few years back exposed this horror. I am talking about Haiti. Though not Islamic… it is a black nation and has been free from colonial rule for centuries.

    British end slavery 1820, USA in 1860s, Brazil in 1880… but in the 21st century black nations have slavery. Those that do almost all (except Haiti) have an Islamic influence.

    Yet white people, Europeans, Jews, Christians, Western society… etcetera continue to get blame for this scourge. Take a long look at history.

    I am an American Indian. Prior and after the Columbian Contact, many Native nations practiced slavery (some Indian cultures did not). In Latin America… one reason why the Spanish Conquistadors had an “easier” time with the subjugation of Indians… was because Indian war parties (ie our Native Indian “armies”) were AWAY at the time of the Spanish arrival and were committing raids and invading other Indian villages and territory.

    Let this American Indian connect the dots for you guys. What we now call today Latin American Indians were busy warring against other Indians to get among other things- SLAVES. Some of the slaves from South and Central American Indian empires would be used as human sacrifices.

    Then Spain and Portugal (followed by other European peoples) began their own brutality against Indians… including enslavement. Yes, the first slaves in the New World were American Indians… and NOT blacks. Though the BLACK AMONG the European fleets helped enslave and capture Indians!

    Of the hundreds of American Indian cultures in North America… some had slaves and other tribes abhorred the practice. NAI had slaves among other Indians, some captured and enslaved white settlers and others had black slaves. Most notably the nations of “The Five Civilized Tribes” kept black slaves ranging from a few household black “servants”, or a couple of black slaves to help with farms or American Indian owned businesses (only being able to afford a “couple” black slaves)… to some American Indians being large farm or even plantation owners and owning large numbers of black slaves.

    When the forced relocations of Indians to Oklahoma began… the blacks that were owned by the American Indians were many times sent along with them. Today those blacks are referred to as the “Freedmen” of those tribes.

    Blacks owned other blacks. Some Free-People-of-Color in the USA purchased relatives so they wouldn’t be sold away. True. Other Free Blacks owned slaves for profit, to work businesses/farms, for household servants and for the same reasons White slave owners owned slaves.

    White were also slaves in the Americas. “Indentured Servants” had contracts manipulated or just had such severe ones… where they and at times their progeny spent their lives in servitude. I already mentioned the whites captured by Indians. Then in the Caribbean/Latin region… the Pirate Culture kidnapped and captured whites along with other races- to be slaves on ships or sold to remote regions.

    In the Pacific Northwest… NOW keep in mind the relatively LOW number of “white people” in the region circa 1800s when compared to other parts of North America. Under Portland was a network of tunnels, rooms, etcetera which were used to capture and kidnap whites (and lesser extent Asians and PNW Indians) and force them into slavery onto ships, being sold down in South America… or for the women, sent to West Coast cities for prostitution).

    I once knew some Latin Americans whose ancestors where “white” Americans who were kidnapped, enslaved on ships, then no longer “useful” were dropped off in Latin America. Poor, illiterate, punished on board… and some having fulfilled a role in an all male setting (read into this- like prison, the young white captives worked on the ship’s most disliked jobs during the day and kept the crew “happy” in the cabins at night). They never attempted to get back to the states.

    In the US Southwest, Latin America and the Caribbean… there were many “classifications” of people that are now out of use… but it went beyond Spanish, Mulatto or Mestizo. Persons of all hues. Same can be said of their slaves.

    Oh, and a lot of the pirates who helped capture people of all hues as slaves and women as prostitutes… well, there were BLACK pirates among them.

    So Slavery in America had many non-white involved and some whites were also slaves. In other parts of the world… other nations and civilizations had slaves. Not all were Muslim nations. There were also the Russian Serfs, Japan’s forced Korean labor… and other situations.

    However, all of this STOPPED. America, The Caribbean (except for Haiti), Brazil, Russia, Japan, it STOPPED. And civilizations like Aztecs or Romans NO LONGER EXIST (those civilizations had slaves).

    Yet for 1400 years in Islam, slavery was constant and continual. Whether with Mohammed at the cult’s origins… or in the early days of America, where American boys were being captured as slaves by the Muslim Barbary Pirates… to now the present day… Islam continues slavery- and the owning of human beings. And we aren’t even talking about the 4th class treatment of dhimmis, muslim women or “guest workers” in Islamic lands. We are talking about slavery.

    Yet, the West and America who could use influence on this situation… still use slavery that all stopped in the 1800s as a catalyst to only cause discord in Western society.

    What is wrong with this picture?

    Oh, and before someone accuses me of being a white religious racist who supports slavery… I DO NOT SUPPORT SLAVERY. I am just blunt about how it existed in history. Also, I am not religious and am not white. I am an American Indian.

    • Carol Chang says

      May 31, 2014 at 4:03 pm

      Bravo. If only everyone would read this, understand this and maybe even feel compelled to do their own research, many could at last try to get over the “victim” thing they so love to carry around. What a much greater land we would be then. Thank you.

    • SKevin says

      May 31, 2014 at 7:17 pm

      There were also American slaves who were white and not indentured servants. During the potato famine, a slave dealer could kidnap Gaelic-speaking Irish children fresh off the boat, take them south and claim they were African octaroons(!) Highly profitable too sell as house-slaves, you know.

      The point is, the West was able to dismantle this evil in a few decades. Islamic states have a hard time doing so, due to their mandatory scriptural literalism.

      • Arjay says

        Jun 1, 2014 at 1:11 pm

        SKevin… SO THAT IS HOW THEY GOT THERE! I have heard of light skinned “Irish” slaves… and didn’t know how this was being done. So they claimed the children were Octoroons? If you know of any Irish History Society’s that have info about this let me know… if not, thank you for this bit of history. Also, thank you to the rest of the commentators, I always learn a lot from you folks.

    • gravenimage says

      May 31, 2014 at 7:47 pm

      Excellent post, Arjay.

      And ignore “Tatter”—he has sneered at other fine posters here, like Saleem Smith. He says the same witless thing whenever someone makes a longer comment—no matter how erudite or informative its content.

    • David says

      Jun 2, 2014 at 12:09 am

      I am much less informed about this subject than you are–as are most of us. If you have not already done so, you should strongly consider writing a book and teaching a course on the subject.
      I wish you very well. Take care.

  6. Richie says

    May 31, 2014 at 11:59 am

    I argued with a liberal at work about the fact slavery still exists in the Islamic occupied countries, and like clockwork the liberal defended Islam, and attacked Christianity and said ‘what about the slavery carried out by Christianity’? Are liberals even capable of discussing Islam without shifting topics to bash Jews and Christians?

  7. Michael Copeland says

    May 31, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    The BBC is Islam-compromised. The head of religious broadcasting is a muslim, so he is not going to let anything unfavourable be said. They will not criticise Islam; they promote misleading obfuscations about it, forever introduce red herrings about poverty and oppression, and not infrequently simply refrain from mentioning news items that put Islam in a bad light. See these items: BBC Fogmaking…, Deception by the BBC,

    http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news-libertygb/5171-bbc-fog-making-soldier-murder-in-afghanistan
    http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news-libertygb/6139-deception-at-the-bbc

  8. miriam rove says

    May 31, 2014 at 2:05 pm

    The BBC is Islam-compromised…. No kidding.m

  9. A. Rist says

    May 31, 2014 at 4:11 pm

    The BBC takes our hefty license-fees and then sells us down the river – rather literally in the case of the enslavement planned for our granddaughters by our urban mujahaddin.
    Voting UKIP is the best hope left us !

  10. ALEX says

    May 31, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    The BBC takes our hefty license-fees and then sells us down the river – rather literally in the case of the degradation planned for our granddaughters by our urban mujahaddin

  11. gravenimage says

    May 31, 2014 at 7:09 pm

    Niger: First-ever slavery conviction for “fifth wife”

    With a “fifth wife”, no marriage takes place and the woman is treated solely as property.
    ……………………………….

    Of course, there are probably large numbers of slave owners who have fewer than four wives, and so would not be caught by this law at all.

    More:

    Niger officially banned slavery in 2003 but anti-slavery organisations say thousands of people still live in subjugation.

    Anti-Slavery International says “fifth wives” are often girls of slave descent sold to wealthy men who view the purchase of young women as a sign of prestige.
    ……………………………….

    “Girls of slave descent”—in other words, girls *born into slavery*—and this, eleven years after slavery was “banned” in Niger.

    The mere fact that there have been no convictions for “fifth wives’ in all this time shows how much this ban is winked at.

    And why not? Keeping both slaves and sex slaves is perfectly Halal in Islam. The abduction of schoolgirls in Nigeria by Boko Haram, in fact, is a large-scale attempt to formally *revive* slavery in the Sahel.

  12. Knittypig says

    May 31, 2014 at 7:52 pm

    Thanks, Arjay, for that fascinating article on the history of slavery. I really learned a lot from it, and it helped to put Islam’s place in it all in perspective for me.
    I’m a new reader, and I am learning a lot from everyone. So happy to have all this information. I don’t like being ignorant, and I really hate to see it in other people. I’m very grateful to all of the jihadwatch readers and writers. Thanks so much!!

    • gravenimage says

      Jun 1, 2014 at 12:45 am

      Welcome, Knittypig!

      You can start with “Why Jihad Watch” and “Islam 101” at the top of the page.

      And yes—you can learn a great deal not just from Robert Spencer and the other official contributors to Jihad Watch, but from many of the erudite posters here, as well.

      And please don’t feel bad about ‘being ignorant’—we all had to start somewhere.

      I believe the fight against Jihad and Shari’ah is the great fight of our time—just as Fascism and Communism was for our parents and grandparents, and that the threat is every bit as great.

    • Mirren10 says

      Jun 1, 2014 at 6:23 am

      I echo gravenimage’s welcome, Knittypig.

      Can I ask what , if anything in particular, brought you to Jihad Watch ?

      In my own case, a general feeling of growing horror towards islam was exacerbated by the attempt to build a mosque at Ground Zero.

      I googled, came to Jihad Watch, and have been learning ever since.

      More power to your elbow, mate !

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