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Writer's anger over Miss World deaths
The Nigerian journalist whose article about the Prophet Mohammed and Miss World contestants sparked deadly riots in Nigeria says she will probably spend the rest of her life in hiding. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Isioma Daniel said her initial guilt soon turned to anger that fanatics would use a newspaper article as an excuse to kill. People used her article to "unleash their anger, their frustration with other aspects of their life". Actually, they were just revelling in the joy of being Islamists. Why should they have a different flavor of anger and frustration than the Christians and animists around them? More than 200 people died in violence between Christians and Muslims last November, while the beauty pageant was moved to London. I notice Beebs managed to make it a Christian-Muslim conflict, rather than a Muslim pogrom against Christians... Daniel, 21, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she was still coming to terms with the consequences of her article. A fatwa - a religious edict calling for her death - was issued against her by the government of Zamfara state. Probably by the Responsible Government Committee... "At first I did feel very guilty, but eventually I thought to myself, this is ridiculous, they're taking this thing overboard," she said. "There's no reason why someone should write something and you immediately think it gives you the right to go out and kill innocent people." Unless you're an Islamist, of course. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-18 |
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