26/09/2003

Key Catholic group hails overturn of Nigerian stoning sentence

ROME, Sept 26 (AFP) - An influential Roman Catholic lay organisation expressed relief and satisfaction Friday that a Nigerian single mother was spared from a sentence of death by stoning, when an Islamic court overturned her conviction for adultery.

The Sant'Egidio community here, frequently involved in behind-the scenes diplomacy around the world, said in a statement it "views with satisfaction the end to a nightmare that could have cost the life of an innocent victim of sexual violence."

There was a strong response in Italy to appeals to spare the life Amina Lawal, 31, in a case that caused an international outcry over human rights in the west African country.

Lawal, a 31-year-old village housewife, was last year convicted of adultery under the strict Islamic Sharia legal code reintroduced in 2000 in Nigeria, mainly in the northern, predominantly Muslim states.

Italy's Junior Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver said she was overjoyed and deeply satisfied with Lawal's acquittal.

The Islamic court ruled that Lawal should have been allowed to retract her alleged original "confession", which was taken by a village court after fundamentalist vigilantes raided her home at night shortly after the birth of her child.

The Sant'Egidio community said in its statement it would organise an international day against the death penalty on November 30, with the involvement of 80 cities around the world including Rome, Buenos Aires, New York and Santiago.