Italian Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo...

Italian Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said the time had come for the European Union to stop women being stoned to death in some Arab countries.
Speaking after news of a death sentence for a Sudanese woman who was convicted by fundamentalists for getting pregnant out of wedlock, the minister said: "The time has come for Europe to use all its political weight to demand respect for human rights guaranteed by international charters."
"The case of 18-year-old Abok Afa Akok, condemned to death by stoning, brings dramatically back to the forefront the still-unresolved matter of Safiya in Nigeria," she went on.
"Once more the application of the sharia law for a pregnancy which was probably the result, in this case also, of rape, confronts the West with a vision of justice and women's dignity which appears unacceptable."
Despite a campaign in Italy and other European countries, the fate of Safiya Hussaini Tungar Duddu has yet to be decided.
After repeated diplomatic approaches from Italy, the Nigerian government offered assurances that she would not be stoned to death for alleged adultery in the state of Sokoto.
Italy has also taken action on the European level and drawn the attention of its EU partners to the plight of Safiya, in line with its policy of combating torture and the death penalty.