Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo hinted that a...

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo hinted that a woman sentenced to death for having sex outside of marriage would win a reprieve, saying the outcome of her appeal would "gladden hearts".
Safiya Hussaini, a divorced mother of six, was sentenced to death by stoning in October 2001 after a sharia court in the northwestern Nigerian city of Sokoto found her guilty of adultery.
The decision sparked an international outcry and the woman has appealed against the verdict.
"I want to reassure the international community, the friends of Nigeria and the friends of Safiya that Safiya has appealed and I believe based on that appeal we should expect that justice will be done," Obasanjo told a news conference during a brief visit to Italy.
"Justice will be done that will gladden the hearts of those who long for justice in the case of Safiya," he told reporters.
Hussaini's appeal began in January but the hearing was postponed until March 18 to give Sokoto State Government lawyers time to prepare their response.
The Nigerian government has said it cannot intervene in the legal process, but a junior justice minister remarked in January that Hussaini's appeal could go to the federal Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
And if the Supreme Court upholds the conviction the state governor still has the power to commute the sentence, according to the government.
Obasanjo told reporters that he had been "delighted" by international reaction to the case."It shows how much the world is concerned even about a lone girl in a remote area. It is an indication of the smallness of the global village," he said.