Two Welsh MEPs have repeated calls for clemency in a last-ditch bid to save the life of a Nigerian woman condemned to death for having pre-marital sex, an offence under Nigerian tribal law. The woman, Safiya Hussaini Tungat Tudu, claims she was raped. She will be stoned to death if the sentence stands.

Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales MEPs Jill Evans and Eurig Wyn have been campaigning alongside other Euro MPs and had contacted Gabriel Kunwafor, Head of the Nigerian mission to the European Union calling for the sentence to be scrapped. They joined other MEPs in calling on United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan as well as UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mary Robinson, in calling for clemency. Speaking from Brussels today, Eurig Wyn said:

"The appeal hearing takes place today and efforts will continue to have this sentence commuted. We cannot allow this barbarous sentence to go ahead. It goes against international human rights laws as well as every sense of justice and humanity. Nigeria ratified in July 1993 the international covenant on civil and political rights. This action is in flagrant disregard of that commitment."

Jill Evans MEP who is Vice Chair of the European Committee for Women's Rights, said:

"The Women's Committee of the European Parliament has been leading the campaign against the sentencing, and have written to the Nigerian Prime Minister. We called for clemency again on International Women's Day. This sentence must be commuted."

Harsh criminal punishments such as stoning and amputation for theft have been introduced into the legal code in many of Nigeria's majority Muslim northern states over the past two years. Although amputations have been carried out, no one has yet been stoned to death.

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