A story released today by the Daily Trust reports that a Nigerian Sharia court in Bakori, Katsina State, has sentenced a middle-aged woman, Amina Lawal Kurami, to death by stoning after finding her guilty of adultery and which resulted in the birth of a baby girl out of wedlock.

This brings to two the number of women sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia court.

The judge, Alhaji Nasiru Lawal Bello Dayi, while delivering his judgment on Friday said the court sentenced Amina Kurami to death after she had made a confessional statement.

He added that the crime committed contravened the state's codified Sharia legal system. The second accused, Yahaya Mohammed, identified by Amina as the man responsible for the pregnancy, could not be sanctioned due to lack of witness.

Amina, who was arraigned before the court on March 4, after being detected with pregnancy by a group of people accepted her crime and informed the court that one Yahaya Mohammed of the same Kurami village was responsible for the pregnancy.

She told the court that he lured her into committing adultery after promising to marry her and would bear responsibility of their action.

She added that Yahaya Mohammed began dating her six months after her divorce with her former husband and had sexual intercourse with her several times.

When the court asked her to produce four witnesses that would ascertain her claim, the accused could not produce the witnesses. The court then asked Yahaya to swear by oath.

He agreed that he had been courting her but denied ever having sexual intercourse with her.

The presiding judge read the verdict after 11 months of judicial proceedings.

He said since the case of adultery had been fully established against Amina based on her confession and the baby girl she gave birth to out of wedlock, the court thereby sentenced her to death by stoning as provided by the Holy Qur'an and Sharia legal code as applied in the state.

The stoning, according to the judge, should be carried out in the next eight months when she must have finished breast-feeding her baby girl.

She was, however, given 30 days to appeal.