During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair...

During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair of the EU Praliament, Renzo Imbeni, Hands Off Cain called on Miss World participants to attend the beauty contest due to be held in Nigeria in December and spotlight Amina Lawal's plight by taking a stand against the death penalty there, rather than boycott the event. HOC General Secretary Sergio D'Elia and Director Elisabetta Zamparutti launched the appeal during the presentation of The Death Penalty Worldwide: 2002 Report at the European Parliament in Brussels. They were flanked by Miss Sweden Sophia Hedmark, Miss Italy Pamela Camassa and the Transnational Radical Party leader Marco Pannella. The 2002 Report is dedicated to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo."Obasanjo has given assurances that Amina Lawal will not be stoned to death, and he must be supported," D'Elia said. " Boycotting the contest in Abuja may mean reinforcing the northern states in their battle with Obasanjo for federal power.""This way we would be stoning a president because he is against stoning," Pannella said. Their comments were echoed by Miss Sweden: "By going to Abuja we would be supporting the president," Hedmark said. "By boycotting we would be allowing the northern states to get away with fundamentalism.""It's only through participation that we can bring our message to the world," Camassa said.Twelve of Nigeria's northern states have introduced Sharia law since 2000. Lawal was sentenced to death for adultery under Sharia law for having a child out of wedlock. She is appealing.D'Elia criticised the indifference of the media and European governments on the tens of executions, including stoning, carried out in other Islamic countries, like Iran, and the thousands of executions carried out annually in China.