And to think that the Bible condoned stoning on grounds of adultery.
Nigerian Lawyers Hopeful in Stoning Case
Katsina, Nigeria -- Lawyers for a woman ordered stoned to death for having sex out of wedlock were confident Wednesday that a five-judge panel would spare her.
A decision on the appeal of Amina Lawal, a 32-year-old mother, is expected Thursday in a case that has dragged on for more than a year and sparked international outcry.
If the sentence stands, Lawal could be the first woman stoned to death since states in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north adopted strict Islamic law, or Shariah, in 1999.
Yet few believe the brutal punishment -- in which Lawal would be buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned to death -- will ever be carried out.
An Islamic court convicted her in March 2002 of having sex outside marriage after her daughter, Wasila, was born two years after Lawal had divorced her husband. The child is now nearly 2.
"We have very strong grounds for appeal," lead lawyer Aliyu Musa Yawuri told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
An earlier appeal filed by her team of volunteer lawyers was rejected by another court in August 2002. If her sentence is upheld Thursday, the case will go to an appeals court in the north-central city of Kaduna, and then possibly to Nigeria's Supreme Court, Yawuri said.
Yawuri has argued Lawal's case should be dropped because no lawyers were present when she first testified she had slept with another man after her divorce. Yawuri said Lawal -- a poor, uneducated woman from a rural family -- also didn't understand the charges against her at the time.
Lawal identified her sexual partner, Yahaya Mohammed, and said he promised to marry her. Mohammed, who would also have faced a stoning sentence, has denied any impropriety and was acquitted for lack of evidence. (Haven't they heard of DNA testing?!?)
Lawal's case has drawn sharp criticism from international human rights groups. Ministers in President Olusegun Obasanjo's government and world leaders have called for Lawal to be spared. Last week, Brazil offered her asylum.
She remains free pending a final decision. Judges have said she would not be executed until she finishes breast-feeding her baby in January.
Four other people have been sentenced to stoning deaths. Two were acquitted, and two others -- a pair of lovers -- await a decision on their fate.
Introduction of Islamic law has heightened Muslim-Christian tensions in Nigeria, Africa's most-populous nation. Religious, ethnic and political violence has claimed at least 10,000 lives since Obasanjo's 1999 election ended 15 years of repressive military juntas.