Nigerian woman gets reprieve from stoning sentence

A Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning after she was convicted of adultery under Islamic shariah law has won a last-minute reprieve.

The country's appeal court has ruled that Safiya Hussaini may be acquitted if she can prove her baby was fathered by her former husband - and not the married man who she alleges raped her.

During a brief appearance, her team of 10 lawyers also argued that the court had failed to determine whether she had ever been "legally married" - a prerequisite for adultery - and that her child was conceived before shariah law was imposed in her home state, Sokoto.