MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or at w-leopold@northwestern.edu

April 13, 2004

Media Coverage of Africa, Islam Is Conference Topic

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Nigerian women’s and human rights activist Ayesha Imam will deliver the keynote address at a free and public conference Saturday, May 1, at Northwestern University. The conference will explore the ways in which Africa and, in particular, Islam in Africa are covered by international and American media.

Imam's noon lecture will focus on media coverage of crimes of “zina” (sexual relations outside marriage) under Islamic law. She will examine the case of Amina Lawal, an unmarried mother who was sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria in 2002. Although Lawal’s conviction was later overturned, the Sharia laws under which she was convicted remain.

The conference on "Media Coverage of Africa: The Question of Islam" will take place in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, Evanston. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

A roundtable discussion on media coverage of Africa and Islam at 10 a.m. will include Newsweek foreign editor Jeffrey Bartholet; Medill School of Journalism Assistant Professor Marda Dunsky; Amadou Mahtar Bar, president and director of AllAfrica.com; Vincent Makori, host of Voice of America's "Africa Journal; and Jerome McDonnell, host of Chicago Public Radio's "Worldview."

Keynote speaker Imam received the 2002 John Humphrey Freedom Award for her human rights work. She organized civil protests across Nigeria, against the adoption of Sharia codes.

The conference is sponsored by the University's Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, Medill School of Journalism and the University's Program of African Studies. Other supporters include the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the U.S. Department of Education. For information, call (847) 491-5401.