An Islamic court in has sentenced a man to be stoned to death for raping a 13-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV.
Such sentences under strict Sharia laws have been passed before but never carried out in Nigeria. Past sentences have been commuted to life in prison.
The defendant, Ubale Sa’idu Dotsa, testified Wednesday that the Devil instigated him to have sex with the girl. The 63-year-old said he did not know he was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Dotsa argued that the teenager tempted him by visiting his shop often at night.
Magistrate Faruk Ahmed ignored his plea for mercy. He said Dotsa was a married man who had committed adultery, which is punishable by death by stoning.