Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo gave assurances...

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo gave assurances that the country's higher appeal courts would quash the death-by-stoning sentences for adultery passed by Islamic courts.Obasanjo said in a radio and television broadcast to mark Nigeria's 42nd independence anniversary that a 31-year-old mother, Amina Lawal Kurami, and a couple condemned to death by Muslim courts can launch appeals at the Supreme Court where they will be guaranteed justice."We have never entertained doubts that whatever verdict a lower court may give, the appellate courts will ensure that justice is done," he said. "We fully understand the concerns of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, but we cannot imagine or envision a Nigerian being stoned to death," Obasanjo said. "It has never happened. And may it never happen." Stoning as punishment for sex crimes had drawn a barrage of international criticism since August when a sharia Court of Appeals in the northern state of Katsina confirmed the death sentence on Amina. Her lawyers said they have appealed to a higher court.Obasanjo's assurance came a week after former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Australian Prime Minister John Howard joined the international pressure on Nigeria to overturn the death verdict.