Amnesty: Somali rape victim, 13, stoned to death
11/02/2008 | 02:06 AM
MOGADISHU, Somalia – A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped
was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by
Islamic militants, a human rights group said.
Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a
stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of
Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing
witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her
of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the
rights group said.
Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told
Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who
first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they
had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.
Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in
Kismayo rang unanswered Saturday.
"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed
opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman,
Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement
Friday.
Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries.
The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning
government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on
each other.
A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public
institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with
violent deaths reported nearly every day.
Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaeda have been battling the
government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces
pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks
of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has
killed thousands of civilians.
In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The
group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest
city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively
closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using
it.
Dale
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