Miss World boycott over death sentence

The newly-crowned Miss Switzerland is to boycott the Miss World contest in Nigeria in protest at the death sentence given to a woman for having sex outside of marriage.

"If I went there, that would be like supporting the whole thing," Nadine Vinzens told the weekly SonntagsBlick.

"It’s frightening what’s done to women there. The human rights situation is very poor."

Vinzens, 19, from the eastern city of Chur, was elected Miss Switzerland in a final in Neuchatel on Saturday evening.

Participants from France and Belgium have already announced their withdrawal from the November 30 event in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Last month, an Islamic court in northern Nigeria rejected single mother Amina Lawal’s appeal of a stoning sentence for having sex outside of marriage.

The 30-year-old had given birth to a daughter more than nine months after divorcing her husband.

The sentence is scheduled to be carried out in 2004 after she finishes weaning the baby.

Several governments and human rights groups around the world have urged President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration to intercede.

The stoning would be the first in Nigeria since a dozen states adopted Islamic law, or Shariah, in 1999.

European Parliament members have urged competitors to boycott the Miss World event.