She was stoned 'in the presence of dozens of residents', witness said

The woman was stoned to death in Al Mukalla southeast Yemen

A woman has been stoned to death in south-east Yemen after being accused of adultery and prostitution by an Al-Qaeda Sharia court.

The married woman was reportedly killed in a public execution in the city of Al Mukalla, which has been under the control of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April last year.

Al-Qaeda militants 'placed the woman in a hole in the middle of the courtyard of a military building and stoned her to death in the presence of dozens of residents', according to an eyewitness report.

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'Justice': The woman was stoned after reportedly 'confessing' to being a prostitute and a pimp, according to a Sharia court set up by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (file photo)

'This was the first time we have seen such a thing,' a witness said.

A copy of the purported verdict issued by a local Sharia court set up by the militants in December, said the married woman had 'confessed in front of the judges to committing adultery'.

The verdict said the woman also admitted 'without any coercion that she practised prostitution, as a pimp... and that she worked with a group of women in brothels'.

She also confessed to smoking hashish, it added.

The verdict said that the woman was sentenced to be stoned to death for 'committing adultery as a married woman... and eighty lashes for consuming hashish'.

According to Islamic sharia law, married men or women can be stoned to death for having sex outside wedlock, while those who are unmarried face being lashed.

The woman was reportedly stoned in front of dozens of witnesses in the city of Al Mukalla (pictured), which has been under the control of AQAP since April last year

Stoning as a method of execution have been reported in areas controlled by militant Islamist groups across the Middle-East, including ISIS controlled areas in Syria and Iraq, as well as Taliban territory in Afghanistan.

In Yemen, AQAP militants have carried out summary executions, especially of people accused of sorcery, and chopped off the hands of those accused of theft.

They have also destroyed ancient Sufi mausoleums in Al Mukalla, the capital city of the Hadhramaut coastal region in Yemen, as they consider tombs to be a form of idolatry.

Last week, AQAP militants killed a woman in the southern port city of Aden after accusing her of practising sorcery, just days after ten men were lashed in the city, for consuming alcohol and hashish, witnesses said.