An article in the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard reported that a 7 judge panel of the Nigerian Supreme Court upheld actress Rabi Ismail's death sentence by hanging (previously confirmed by the Court of Appeal) for administering sedative drugs on her boyfriend. She was found guilty of culpable homicide, which requires a death sentence under section 221(b) of the Nigerian penal code. She was arraigned and tried before the high court of Kano state in 2002.
I find the public reaction to be particularly interesting. Unsurprisingly, Amnesty International condemned the ruling in a press release. More interestingly, press reports abound on the reaction of other Nollywood actresses and the Actors Guild of Nigeria, who condemned the death sentence as "barbaric and outdated." For more on this reaction, see another article in Vanguard here. An interview in the periodical Leadership with the actress's mother is quite strange (or at least not well edited) but adds some additional content to Ismail's life and current unfortunate situation and is very intimate and sad. In the interview, the actress's mother recounts how the actress steadfastly maintains her innocence and claims that there was some confusion over identifying the body of the victim. The actress apparently had state-funded legal assistance.
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