A story released today by the Associated Press reports that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he will weep if a 30-year-old woman sentenced to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage is killed, but that he has faith that the court system will overturn her sentence.

It was the first time the president spoke about single mother Amina Lawal since an Islamic court in the northern town of Funtua last week rejected her appeal against the stoning sentence.

"I don't think what is going on will lead to her death," Obasanjo told reporters. "Indeed if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria."

Lawal was sentenced in March after giving birth to a daughter more than nine months after divorcing.

Her conviction was upheld on the basis that she admitted having sex outside marriage. The man she identified as her baby's father denied the accusation and was acquitted for lack of evidence.