World News

"Nigeria's stoning appeal fails

Amina Lawal's lawyers are still hopeful

An Islamic appeal court has upheld a sentence of death by stoning for adultery against a Nigerian woman.
Amina Lawal, 30, was found guilty by a court in Katsina state in March after bearing a child outside marriage.

The introduction of Islamic holy law - or Sharia - in northern Nigeria's mostly Muslim states in the past two years has sparked violence in which hundreds of people have been killed.

"The stones should not be so large that a person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but must cause severe injury," it says. "This makes it clear that the purpose of stoning is to inflict grievous pain on the victim, in a process leading to his or her slow death.


Tears

The largely-male crowd in the courtroom reacted to the judgement of judge Aliyu Abdullahi with shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

"We uphold your conviction of death by stoning as prescribed by the Sharia. This judgement will be carried out as soon as your baby is weaned," the judge said, as Amina cradled her eight-month-old daughter Wasila, reports the French news agency, AFP.

She was led away in tears, according to AFP."

For a man to be convicted of adultery, he must either confess to the judge in an Islamic court or else four men must have witnessed the actual act.