Nigerian with 86 wives released

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/7725413.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A Nigerian man with 86 wives has been released on bail from police custody 59 days after he was arrested.

Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, was arrested by order of an Islamic court for refusing to divorce all but four of his wives.

His lawyer told the BBC Mr Abubakar should never have been arrested and his human rights had been violated.

There is no law against marrying more than one woman in Nigeria and polygamous marriages are common.

But Mr Abubakar's case has raised eyebrows because of the large number of women he married, and because he claims God told him to do it.

Mr Abubakar, who claims to be descended from royalty, told the BBC in an interview he had flown to heaven and had spoken with the prophet Muhammad who commanded him to take as many wives as he could.

'Heretic'

He has angered Islamic authorities, who called him a heretic.

One organisation placed a fatwa on him calling for his death, but the penalty was commuted to "banishment".

He was picked up in a pre-dawn raid on his house in Bida, Niger state, and charged with "insulting religious creed" and "unlawful marriages".

The charge of unlawful marriage has been dropped.

He had obtained an order from the federal High Court protecting him from being arrested.

A judge will decide in December if the court that charged him violated that order.

Lawyers for Mr Bello Abubakar said he had not broken any law.

Mr Abubakar says there is no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.

Niger is one of majority Muslim states in Nigeria that have reintroduced Sharia punishments since 2000.

Sharia courts have sentenced several people to death for adultery, but none of these sentences have been carried out.

Muslim scholars agree that it is allowed in Islam to have up to four wives, as long as you treat them equally.