Nigeria man sentenced to stoning

Penalties can include amputation, flogging and stoning

By Dan Isaacs BBC correspondent in Lagos

An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has sentenced a man to death by stoning for the crime of rape.

The judge in the state of Jigawa passed the sentence after the man, Sarimu Mohammed, confessed to raping a nine-year-old girl.

Safiya Husseini won her appeal against a death sentence by stoning

If carried out, it would be the first such stoning under strict Islamic, or Sharia, laws introduced in the majority Muslim northern States over the past two years.

This sentence is much more likely to be carried out than previous death sentences passed against women convicted of adultery.

Click here to see a map of the states which have introduced Sharia

Sarimu Mohammed's sentence will first be a fine of about $90 as compensation to the victim, then $100 and finally death by stoning.

No outcry

Previous convictions have provoked outrage from human-rights groups, both within Nigeria and outside.

Both previous cases involved women convicted of adultery.

One was overturned on appeal earlier this year; the other is pending an appeal.

The convicted man has given no indication that he intends to appeal - and in a case of rape such as this against a young girl, there is little chance of a strong international outcry.

However, the country's justice minister has previously made it clear that he considers such strict Sharia punishments carried out at state level unconstitutional.

State governors have strongly resisted this, arguing that Islamic punishments are now legally enshrined in the penal codes of the country's northern states.

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