General News of Monday, 17 June 2019

Source: abcnewsgh.com

Human rights lawyer calls for arrest of father who wants to kill his daughter over her choice of religion

Mariam Abubakar, the Muslim girl who is on the run due to her change of religion Mariam Abubakar, the Muslim girl who is on the run due to her change of religion

A human rights lawyer, Francis Xavier Sosu is calling for the arrest of Abubakar Seidu for threatening to kill his own daughter because she has chosen to convert to Christianity, ABC News Ghana can report.

Mr. Sosu in an interview with ABC News Ghana stated that the case moved from a purely domestic one to a criminal one the moment Abubakar Seidu threatened the life of his daughter over her decision to convert to Christian in defiance to his wishes.

“I think every human life is important and once the threat has been made, the law enforcement officers need to invite the father, not even invite, arrest the father and possibly caution him and those steps will be a check on the father” he stated.

News about this became known in a Joy News interview with the daughter, Mariam Abubakar, on Wednesday, 12th June.

In the report monitored by ABC News Ghana, Mariam Abubakar, lived with her parents until march 30 when she embraced Christianity.

According to the 18-year-old girl, she has been on the run for several weeks now since her father threatened her life.

“My father said because of the church he’ll disown me and now I don’t have anywhere to go, he told me if I still go to the church, he’ll bring cutlass there and come and butcher me” she narrated to JoyNews’ Latif Iddrisu.

Reacting to the development, Mr. Sosu said that leaders of the Islamic sect in the country should dialogue with the father in order to persuade him out of his life threatening decision.

“Also, I think, we should dialogue with the father, if possible, through the National Chief Imam so that he will change his decision” he said.