The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to...

The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria was adjourned till June 2003.
The Sharia appeal court in Minna, capital of the central state of Niger, put off hearing the appeal of Fatima Usman and Ahmadu Ibrahim, convicted of adultery in 2002.
The adjournment came a day after a similar appeal hearing of mother of three Amina Lawal was put off to August 27 in Katsina State. The court said the adjournment was necessary because of the absence of the key prosecutors and a request by the ex-lovers' counsel for a postponement.
"In view of the fact that the representative of the ministry of justice was not in court, and a further application put forward by the appellants' counsel for an adjournment, we deem it fit and proper to accept the application," Sharia appeal judge Abdul-Mumini Mohammed Enegi said.
He said the hearing would take place at the next appeal session of the court "some time late June."
A lawyer for the accused, Hauwa Ibrahim, told AFP her clients would press on with the case until the death sentence was reversed.
"We must try to continue to push the case until justice is restored," she added.
A representative of French body Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders) was in court to give moral support to the two defendants. "We are here to support her (the lawyer's) efforts and to try to make compatible international treaties signed by Nigeria, the constitutional law of Nigeria and the Sharia which is now applicable in some northern states," Marie-Pierre Paulain told AFP.