/ 10 October 2001

NIGERIAN COURT SENTENCES WOMAN TO STONING

AN Islamic court in northern Nigeria has sentenced a woman to death by stoning after convicting her of adultery, the Punch newspaper reported on Wednesday. Thirty-year-old Safiya Tungar-Tudu was sentenced by the Upper Sharia Court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the offence, it said. Adultery is contrary to Islamic law, introduced in the state last year. Presiding judge Mohammadu Bello Sanyinawal found Tungar-Tudu guilty of the offence and sentenced her to death by stoning. No date was fixed for the sentence to be carried out as it has yet to be approved by the state governor. Last month in nearby Kebbi State, a man received a similar sentence for sodomising a seven-year-old boy. Islamic law has been introduced in 12 northern Nigerian states over the past two years. – AFP