05 October 2007 :

a Nigerian Catholic man who fled his native land to escape execution has appealed to the Italian government to allow him to remain there, the AKI news service reports. Felix Eugene was sentenced to death by an Islamic court in the northern Niger state in 2004, for the offence of having had sexual intercourse before marriage. He was also whipped for attempting to persuade his girlfriend, a Muslim, to embrace the Catholic faith. Eugene escaped from prison in Niger-- one of the Nigerian states where Islamic shari'a law is in force-- and found his way to Italy.