[Quirky]

HOORAY!!!!

Quote:

An appeals court today overturned the conviction of the Nigerian peasant woman whose sentencing to death by stoning had incited international condemnation and focused attention on Islamic law here. Amina Lawal, 32, had been convicted of adultery for having had a child out of wedlock, two years after she divorced her husband. She would have been the first woman stoned to death since 1999 when 12 states in the predominantly Islamic north began adopting strict Islamic law, or Shariah.

New York Times article

Her sentence was overturned on procedural grounds; the appeals court voted 4-1 to throw out the lower court's ruling because 1) the lower court should have let her retract her confession because she didn't understand the charges against her; 2) the Shariah police improperly arrested and interrogated her; and 3) the "sleeping embryo" theory:

Quote:

Finally, the court cited the so-called sleeping embryo theory in Islamic scholarship that says an infant can be in gestation for up to five years, in effect saying that Ms. Lawal could have conceived her child when she was still married.

 

[Delilah]

I'm really glad all the protesting worked to help her.

 

[mahdokht]

This is wonderful news.

 

[mamabeard]

 

[mamabeard]