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Miss World Contestants Arrive in the Land of Stoning

This is not from the National Enquirer, but the London Times:

80 Miss World contestants arrived in Nigeria today while Amina Lawal, a 31 year old illiterate woman continued to wait out her fate of death by stoning, imposed by the Nigerian Goverment after finding her guilty of adultery.

Ms. Lawal's baby, the product of the alleged adultery, is now 10 months old. Ms. Lawal is stoic about her fate, being buried up to her neck and then stoned to death, but she worries about her child's future. “I appreciate the sympathy,” she told The London Times, but her immediate concerns are finding medical care for her daughter and wondering whether she will live to see Wasila walk. Unless her second appeal succeeds she will be executed as soon as Wasila is weaned or by 2004, whichever is sooner."

"There are four other cases of women sentenced to be stoned for adultery. There are also 11 children in Sokoto state awaiting amputation for stealing. Ms Lawal’s lawyer, Hauwa Ibrahim, said: “We have heard they are waiting for the amputation machine to arrive.” (our emphasis)

"Ms Ibrahim is a human rights activist who works pro bono defending victims of Sharia. Her first case involved pleading unsuccessfully against a woman’s sentence of 180 lashes for lying and having sex outside marriage."

"The victims have one thing in common: they are poor. They have all, according to aid workers, been used as examples by the court to frighten others into submission. “The rich do exactly the same thing but they are not punished,” said one worker. “One of the judges who tried these women got his girlfriend pregnant. Other members of the Sharia court had daughters who got pregnant. Nothing ever happens to them.”

"The Miss World contest has brought the plight of these victims to the world’s attention, but as Ms Ibrahim, says: “When the contest is finished everyone will go home and we will still be here.”

Dubem Onyiam, Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, told the Miss World contestants that no one would be stoned in Nigeria. “Relax and enjoy yourselves,” he said.

Post-script: For those who have the stomach for it, The Times provides another article with a description of the stoning process and it's history. We stopped reading after learning that victim's families are made to watch.

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