an Islamic Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced Danliti Rabiu to be stoned

an Islamic Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced Danliti Rabiu to be stoned to death for sodomising a 10-year-old boy. The conviction of 38-year-old Danliti marked the first time a court in Kano State had resorted to a stoning sentence since it restored the Islamic legal system in November 2001. 
"He reiterated his guilt before the court at three different sittings and refused to withdraw his confession," said a court official from the Upper Sharia Court in Gwarzo, 50 kilometres (35 miles) west of Kano city.
"The judge, Mahfuz Mohammed ignored Danliti's plea for leniency and passed the death penalty as Sharia orders that once an accused confesses to such an offence and maintains his guilt there is no question of leniency," he said.
The accused will, however, be allowed to appeal the sentence, he added. He was being held in Kano's main central prison.
The court had heard that Danliti, a divorced father-of-two, had been caught having sex with the boy in his house by neighbours, including the victim's father, the official said.