Nigeria Asked About Stone Sentence
By D'ARCY DORAN
Associated Press Writer

September 12, 2002, 2:33 PM EDT

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Organizers of Miss World asked Nigeria's government
Thursday for assurances a single mother's sentence of death by stoning
for having sex outside of marriage will not be carried out. 

The pageant is to be held Nov. 30 in Nigeria's capital Abuja, and
organizers have come under fire from beauty queens, who are threatening
to boycott to protest the stoning sentence, and from Nigeria's Muslims,
who are opposed to an event they see as immoral. 

Miss World president Julia Morley canceled an inspection tour of
contestant visiting sites in eastern Nigeria to meet with government
ministers about the case of single mother Amina Lawal, said Guy
Murray-Bruce, owner of the pageant's Nigerian franchise rights. 

"We are appalled that such an action might take place," Morley said in a
statement. "This is a situation that we have never come across before." 

She said organizers were monitoring Lawal's case and "are confident
justice will prevail." 

An Islamic court last month sentenced Lawal to death by stoning for
having sex outside of marriage. The 30-year-old gave birth to a daughter
more than nine months after divorcing her husband. The sentence is
scheduled to be carried out in 2004, after she finishes weaning the
baby. 

The sentence sparked an international outcry. The European Parliament's
committee on women's rights on Wednesday unanimously approved a motion
calling for a boycott of the pageant to protest the sentence. 

Participants from France and Belgium have already announced their
withdrawal from the pageant. 

"They discussed the Shariah (Islamic law) issue," Murray-Bruce said
after Morley met with Abba Gana, the minister responsible for Abuja.
"She is asking people in authority to reassure everybody nothing will
happen." 

Muslim groups have also threatened to disrupt the pageant, which they
say is immoral and should not be held in Nigeria during the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan. Nigeria has sub-Saharan Africa's largest Muslim
population. 

Lawal is the second Nigerian woman to be condemned to death for having
sex out of wedlock. The first woman, Safiya Hussaini, had her sentence
overturned in March on appeal. 
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press

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