Wednesday, October 23, 2002

A story released by the Agence France Presse reports that Nigerian Sharia court officials said that a Nigerian woman will be able to give birth outside of prison and, along with her former lover, prepare an appeal against a sentence to death by stoning.

The couple are still living under a death sentence, but defence counsel Jibril Kallamu was cheered by the result.

"Obviously for us the most important thing was their freedom. Especially for Fatima," he said.

"She has gone nine months. She could give birth today, tomorrow, or the day after. We're very, very happy that we've secured her freedom."

The couple plan to appeal their conviction for having sex outside of marriage as soon as possible to the Sharia Appeal Court in Minna, Kallamu said.

After Nigeria's return to civilian rule in 1999 a dozen Muslim-majority northern states gradually reintroduced the Sharia into their criminal codes, bringing back sentences such as flogging and amputations.

The return of Sharia was greeted with joy by many Muslims tired of Nigeria's endemic corruption and violent crime, but also triggered sectarian riots with the north's Christian minority that left thousands dead.

No-one has yet been stoned, but each fresh case has embarrassed President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose federal government has sought to mollify international opinion without picking a fight with the north's influential leaders.

His government has said it is opposed to the use of Sharia in criminal cases but has thus far not challenged the northern states in the supreme court nor publicly intervened to help any of the defendants.