Isioma Nkemdilim Nkiruka Daniel (born 1981) is a Nigerian journalist whose 2002 newspaper article comment involving the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

sparked the

Miss World riots The Miss World riots were a series of religiously motivated riots in the Nigerian city of Kaduna in November 2002, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people. The Miss World beauty pageant, which was controversial in Nigeria, was relocated ...

and caused a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

to be issued on her life. She ultimately had to flee the country because of jihadists.

Education and career

Isioma Daniel studied journalism and politics for three years at the

University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...

, graduating in the summer of 2001. Her first job as a journalist was at ''

Thisday ''This Day'' is a Nigerian national newspaper. It is the flagship newspaper of Leaders & Company Ltd., and was first published on 22 January 1995. It has its headquarters in Apapa, Lagos State. Founded by Nduka Obaigbena, the chairman and edito ...

'', a

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

-based national daily newspaper.

2002 Nigeria riots

As a fashion writer, she authored a November 16, 2002 comment piece on

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

that was to be held in Nigeria later that year. Addressing opposition to the contest from the Nigerian Muslim community, she made the following remark: :"The Muslims thought it was immoral to bring 92 women to Nigeria and ask them to revel in vanity. What would Mohammed think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from one of them." According to Daniel, the sentence was added at the last minute; she thought it was "funny and light-hearted" and "didn't see it as anything anybody should take seriously or cause much fuss". However, that judgment quickly proved wrong, as the publication triggered violent religious riots that left more than 200 dead and 1,000 injured, while 11,000 people were made homeless. ''Thisdays offices in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade center and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern state ...

were torched, despite the paper's apology and retraction on the front page. Daniel resigned from the newspaper the day after her article appeared. Soon after, fearing for her safety and worried about the impending interrogation by the Nigerian state security, she left the country for

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. On 26 November 2002, an Islamist government of

Zamfara State Zamfara (; ; Adlam script, Adlam: ) is a States of Nigeria, state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current List of Governors of Zamfara State, governor is Dauda Lawal. Until 1996, the area was part of Soko ...

issued a fatwa against Isioma Daniel; in the words of Zamfara deputy governor

Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi Alhaji Mamud Aliyu Shinkafi is a Nigerian politician. He was elected governor of Zamfara State in 2007 on the All Nigeria Peoples Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. The ANPP was a household party in the ...

, later broadcast on the local radio: :"Like

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

, the blood of Isioma Daniel can be shed. It is abiding on all Muslims wherever they are to consider the killing of the writer as a religious duty." While the Nigerian government denounced the judgement as "unconstitutional" and "null and void", Muslim leaders were divided over its validity, some arguing that the subsequent retraction and apology meant that the fatwa was inappropriate. Thus

Lateef Adegbite Lateef Adegbite (20 March 1933 – 28 September 2012) was a lawyer who became Attorney General of the Western Region, Nigeria, Western Region of Nigeria, and who later became Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. ...

, Secretary-General of the

Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was established in 1973 at a national conference of Nigerian Muslim leaders in Kaduna (city), Kaduna under the auspices of Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the group for all the Islamic organis ...

, was quick to reject the death penalty since Daniel was not Muslim and the newspaper had apologised publicly.

Exile in Europe

Isioma Daniel eventually went into exile in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, her resettlement guided by the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Isioma 1981 births Living people Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire Fatwas Islam-related controversies Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom Nigerian newspaper journalists Nigerian refugees Place of birth missing (living people) Nigerian women journalists 21st-century journalists 21st-century women journalists Nigerian exiles

Education and career

2002 Nigeria riots

Exile in Europe

See also

References