Nigerian, spared death, praises Islam

? Spared death by stoning for adultery, 32-year-old Amina Lawal told The Associated Press on Tuesday she hoped to return to her Muslim village in northern Nigeria and remarry.

“Whoever God chooses to be my husband will be all right with me,” said the divorced, single mother in her first extended comments since an Islamic appeals court granted her clemency from her death sentence for bearing a child out of wedlock. “Everything is within the knowledge of God.”

Lawal, who can neither read nor write, cradled her nearly 2-year-old daughter and repeatedly drew a red scarf across her face as she spoke. Despite her ordeal, she said, she retained faith in Islamic law, or Shariah.

“The trial did not affect my faith in Islam, because I know that Shariah makes room for fair trial,” said Lawal, her head draped in another red scarf and body covered in the bright wax-print cloth favored by women in northern Nigeria.

Lawal, who describes herself as a committed Muslim, would have been the first person stoned to death since a dozen states in northern Nigeria adopted Islamic law in 1999.

A panel of five judges in white turbans and black robes ruled 4-1 for clemency Thursday in the heavily politicized case, citing procedural errors and arguing Lawal was not given “ample opportunity to defend herself.”

Police and lawyers hustled Lawal away after the verdict.

While she has remained in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, since then, Lawal told AP she hoped to return to her Muslim community in northern Katsina state and remarry.