IN MARCH, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria thought he had dodged a stone of international embarrassment. A strict Islamic court in the north of the country decided - under massive international pressure - not to bury 35-year-old Safiya Hussaini up to her neck and have executioners throw rocks at her until she died, as required by sharia, the Islamic code of justice. Her alleged crime was adultery.

''Wherever I went in the world, I had no peace,'' Obasanjo said. ''In Mexico the first person who wanted to see me was the president of Spain. I went to him with my camera. And he said, `This matter of Safiya...'

''The second man was the prime minister of Norway. I had been talking to him about oil exploration in Nigeria. All he wanted to talk about is Safiya. Next, the president of European Union. What he wanted to talk about is Safiya.''

Hussaini is reportedly back in her home village, happily remarried. Proving that poverty did not blind her to politics, Hussaini said in the days before her exoneration: ''It's because I'm poor, because I'm a woman, that this is happening to me. Others have committed worse crimes, but because they're men and because they have influence in high places, they're not punished.''

Much to Obasanjo's chagrin, the Islamic courts, which he says are out of control and out of his control, are still throwing stones in Nigeria. Just as Hussaini was being let go in March, another woman was sentenced to the same pit of doom for having an out-of-wedlock child.

Amina Lawal, 30, is another woman who is poor. The probable father at first admitted that he was the father of Lawal's child, but then swore on the Koran that he never had sex with her. He was let go, the same as the man associated with Hussaini's child. Lawal faced the court by herself.

''The judge didn't want to hear the evidence,'' Lawal told Newsday. ''He said, `The baby you're holding in your arms is proof of your guilt.'''

Last weekend, just before her appeal, Lawal said wistfully: ''God is in control. I believe he will vindicate me.'' The court instead vindicated the lower court, saying, ''We uphold your conviction of death by stoning as prescribed by the sharia. The judgment will be carried out as soon as your baby is weaned.''

Lawal, in news accounts, burst into tears. Many of the 60 onlookers in the courtroom burst into celebration, shouting ''God is great!''

It appears that the god of Lawal will have to work much harder to stone some sense into the men who hide behind Islam to punish women. It would help if the United States started casting some of them.

For obvious reasons, the United States cannot protest capital punishment itself, but it could easily decry its inhumane application. For months, European nations have condemned the sharia sentences of stoning for merely having a baby outside of marriage. Only this week has the Bush administration said anything at all, when a State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker, expressed hope that the court would proceed in a manner ''that affords protection of due process, fairness, and justice.''

That is far from a condemnation. The meekness of the United States has to be because of oil. In July, the State Department's top African envoy, Walter Kansteiner, met with Obasanjo in Lagos. Nigeria is the fifth-largest supplier of crude oil to the United States and looms large as the Middle East remains volatile.

''It is a strategic interest that we are keen to see oil production and exploration continue in the region,'' said Kansteiner after meeting with Obasanjo, ''and that's really the primary focus of what our policy is.''

There was no hint that Kansteiner discussed either stonings or why groups of women - proving that poverty does not equate with passivity - peacefully occupied oil production facilities this summer. The women protested poor working conditions, pollution of their communities, and the extracting of black gold while leaving behind primitive clinics and schools.

Some members of Congress have been urging the White House to say more. This fall the House International Relations Committee is expected to consider a resolution by Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, to condemn the punishments faced by Hussaini and Lawal. The resolution was approved in July by a subcommittee on human rights.

When Hussaini faced death, she said, ''I know all the support I have been getting around the world and I am grateful. It is what is going to save me.'' It did. Now Lawal needs international support. Everywhere Obasanjo goes, he should now hear, ''Now, this matter of Amina ...''

One of those countries that should be asking him is the United States. This is a case where we should join with other nations in casting a stone of disgrace.

© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company

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