A sharia court in Nigeria acquitted an 18-year-old...

A sharia court in Nigeria acquitted an 18-year-old mother of adultery in a ruling that could save other Muslims from being stoned to death on similar charges, her lawyer said.
A sharia judge in northern Sokoto state ruled there was insufficient evidence to find Hafsatu Abubakar guilty of adultery, the lawyer said.
Anyone who has ever been married and is convicted of adultery can be sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic sharia law. But lawyer Abdulkadir Imam Ibrahim said the prosecution could not prove Abubakar committed adultery.
"Sharia law provides that there is no evidence that she had any intercourse with another man unless four witnesses testify that they saw her having intercourse. The prosecution could not do that," he said by telephone from Sokoto.
Ibrahim said the judgement showed there was hope for Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu, a mother of six who has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery by another Sokoto sharia court.
Ibrahim is representing Hussaini at her appeal, which is due to resume on March 18.
"This sets a precedent that judges must consider now when similar cases with other women come up," Ibrahim said.
Hussaini's conviction has sparked international outrage.
About 200 people demonstrated outside the Nigerian embassy in Dakar earlier this week. Hundreds also held a vigil on Christmas Eve at Nigeria's Rome embassy.