The Nigerian government pledged that no woman would...

The Nigerian government pledged that no woman would be sentenced to death by stoning under the country's laws. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia made the pledge in a statement in response to the fate of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia court in northern Sokoto State in August this year for alleged adultery. Onyia said in the history of justice in Nigeria no woman had ever been punished in such "dastardly manner as pre-empted by this case and this will not be an exception. It is the wish of this government to state equivocally that this ruling is not a travesty of justice as there are higher courts yet to examine the case."