11/11 09:38

By Laure Edwards

Lagos, Nigeria, Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's government said the death-by-stoning judgments handed down by Islamic courts in the country's northern states will be blocked, the Associated Press said, citing a press release on the Miss World Web site.

Contestants have threatened to boycott the Miss World beauty pageant to protest a death sentence for Amina Lawal, a 31-year-old single mother, for having sex outside marriage. At least four other people have been sentenced to death for adultery or rape in courts in Nigeria run on Islamic law, AP said.

The Nigerian constitution doesn't allow stonings, amputations, whippings or other such punishments administered under some Islamic laws, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia and other Nigerian leaders, including President Olusegun Obasanjo said, AP said.

Twelve northern states adopted the Islamic court system when Obasanjo's election ended 16 years of military rule, AP said. Contestants from Belgium, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Kenya, Panama, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland have said they may not attend the Dec. 7 Miss World pageant in Nigeria because of the Lawal's sentence.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 2002