PAUCHI , Nigeria, June 16 (IslamOnline.net) - The governor of the Nigerian state of Pauchi, Adam Moaaz, insisted Monday, June 16, on applying the rules of the Sharia (Islamic law) to 12 people, who were sentenced by Islamic courts to stoning and amputation of hands, shunning mounting external pressure to call off such rulings.

During a meeting with a delegation of the group of "Removing Heresies and Establishing the Tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”, one of the pro-Sharia Islamic groups in the country, Moaaz said Nigerian authorities in Pauchi - a state of five million people with Muslims representing 99 percent of them - "will never hesitate in enforcing a ruling delivered by an Islamic court."

He downplayed the external pressures to obstruct the enforcement of some rulings, including stoning and amputation of hands, noting that such pressures "have previously proved futile."

Moaaz further exhorted Muslim scholars and Imams in this northeastern state to do their best in maintaining the enforcement of the Shariaa and raising the public awareness of the importance of sticking to the rules of Islam.

Sharia is effective in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states. Nigeria, a country of some 120 million people, is divided between Muslims, who predominate in the north, and Christians in the south.

The Nigerian human rights organization released a statement Saturday, June 14, urging the central authorities in Nigeria and the governments all over the world "to pressure the state of Pauchi into protecting the 12 accused."

The 12 people include men and women and are accused of adultery, theft and banditry.

The statement further called on the governments of the Western countries and donor states to "use the weapon of foreign aid and loans to guarantee the non-enforcement of the capital punishment and amputations delivered by the northern states in the country."

It also called for "imposing sanctions on the Nigerian government if it does not honor its pledges or comply with the human rights agreements sealed by it."

Among the accused is Haron Yussuf, who is accused of raping his lover Aisha Haron. The court gave Haron many chances to recall his confession in accordance with Islam, but he pleaded guilty, while his lover survived the death stoning when she swore by the Glorious Qur'an that he raped her after being anaesthetized.