The Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities...

The Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament today called for Miss World contestants to withdraw from the pageant in protest of the Sharia death sentence passed by host country Nigeria on a woman convicted of adultery. The Committee said contestants should follow the example of Miss France and Miss Belgium who have already decided not to take part in the contest, due to be held in Nigeria in November. Nigeria's reigning Miss World Agbani Darego has refused to become involved in a threatened boycott of this years' beauty pageant in Abuja. Asked about the threatened boycott of the event on November 30 in the Nigerian capital, she said: "I'm sorry, I won't answer that." Darego, however, said the view of an influential Nigerian Muslim group that the country should not host the annual pageant was not "proper and right". In August, the Jama'atul Muslimeen group in north-western Sokoto state called on Muslims to oppose the event because it was "a parade of nudity" bound to promote promiscuity. Anna Karamanou, the EP Committee chairperson, said Nigeria treated women in a completely unacceptable manner.