Denmark joins international boycott of Miss World pageant

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Miss Denmark on Wednesday joined a boycott of the Miss World pageant to protest a sentence of death by stoning imposed on a Nigerian Muslim woman accused of having sex outside marriage.

The pageant has come under international pressure over the case of 31-year-old Amina Lawal, who was sentenced by a Shariah judge to be stoned to death while buried up to her neck in sand in 2004, after her baby born out of wedlock is weaned. The contest is set for late November in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

"I don't wish to travel down there unless they reverse the sentence," said 23-year-old Majsa Juel, who won the Miss Denmark title in November.

Juel joined fellow contestants from Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland in staying away from the competition.

Governments and human rights organizations have urged Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to intercede. The European Parliament urged a boycott of the contest.