A story released today by the BBC News reports that a Sharia court in Nigeria has upheld the appeal of a Muslim woman who had been convicted of adultery under Islamic law and sentenced to death by stoning.

Safiya Husaini won her case after the court in the northern town of Sokoto said the original ruling was unsound.

But as the verdict was announced, it emerged that a second woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

A Sharia court at Bakori in Katsina State sentenced Amina Lawal to die after she confessed to having had a child while divorced.

Judge Mohammed Tambari-Uthman said that because the alleged act had taken place before adultery became a criminal offense under Islamic law, her case should be dismissed.

"The first court... that convicted her did not follow the appropriate procedure. The police report also did not give all the necessary information related to the offence," he said.

The ruling was welcomed by human rights groups around the world.

Anti-adultery laws, however, remain on the statute books in 12 northern Nigerian states, which have reintroduced Sharia law in the past two years.

Under Islamic law as practised in northern Nigeria, pregnancy outside marriage is sufficient evidence to convict a woman.

Federal Justice Minister Kanu Agabi last week made public a letter he had written to the governors of the northern states, advising them to "take measures to amend or modify the jurisdiction of the courts imposing these punishments".

He said Muslims should not be subjected to more severe punishments than other Nigerians.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo - himself a devout Christian - had personally intervened in the case of Safiya Husaini, calling for her acquittal.

The reintroduction of Sharia has sparked religious riots between Muslims and Christians in many states, leaving thousands of people dead.

Some analysts feel the issue is being exploited by politicians ahead of general elections due early next year.