photo: Sven Torfinn.Nigeria, Kano, Kano State, october 2002.Sharia court, on the table a book with the title &quot;Sharia Court Criminal Register&quot;, in the background four men are heard in a family dispute concerning an inheritance issue..Sharia law was working on a community / local level and has been practised already hundreds of years in Northern Nigeria, but in recent years declared official jurisdiction in several northern states of Nigeria. But sentences /.verdicts by the national sharia courts such as stoning to death and amputations / choping of hands because of theft are getting now a lot of media attentions and critisism from different western organizations and goverments.