DATE=3/18/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287683

TITLE=NIGERIA / SHARIA (L-O)

BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: An Islamic court in Nigeria's northern Sokoto state is to hear an appeal by Safiya Husseini, a woman found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. V-O-A's Luis Ramirez reports from our West Africa bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: Thirty-five-year-old Safiya Hussaini was condemned to death by stoning last October. Her crime, under the Islamic law of Sharia, is that she gave birth to a child years after becoming divorced.

The Islamic court in Sokoto, one of 12 Nigerian states that have adopted Sharia during the past two-years, said the sentence was to be carried out as soon as the child stopped nursing. /// OPT /// The child, a girl, is now more than one-year old. /// END OPT ///

Ms. Hussaini had earlier said the child was conceived after she was raped by a neighbor. Later, at a hearing in January, her attorney said Ms. Hussaini, who is illiterate, had misunderstood the questions posed by her interrogators.

He said Ms. Hussaini became pregnant after having sexual relations with her former husband. That being the case, Ms. Hussaini's actions would not be considered adultery under Sharia. /// OPT /// Attorneys said they expected the court to reverse the conviction. If she loses her appeal, her options include taking her case to Nigeria's supreme court. /// END OPT ///

Ms. Hussaini's case has drawn a wave of protests from the international community, including human rights and women's groups. On Saturday, members of the European Union meeting at a summit in Spain on Saturday called for clemency for the Nigerian woman.

/// OPT /// While a number of people convicted in Nigeria's Sharia courts have had their limbs amputated for crimes that include theft, no one has yet to be executed by stoning. /// END OPT ///

The introduction of Sharia has created friction between Nigeria's predominantly Muslim northern states and the officially secular federal government, which opposes the imposition of the Islamic code. It has also strained relations between Christians and Muslims.

On several occasions in the two-years since Sharia has been implemented, tensions have erupted into ethnic and religious fighting that has left thousands of people dead. (SIGNED)

NEB/LR/KL/RAE