13-Year-Old Rape Victim Stoned To Death In Somalia For Adultery

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-Qaida 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.

Comments

[ringmaster]

As usual the the intrepid reporters at Political Maven got to the bottom of this story and placed the blame squarely where it belongs; on Bill Clenton. http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2008/11/03/13-year-old-somali-rape-victim-stoned/

[radnip]

Yet another reason I hate religion(s) sometimes. It's a shame when so many terrible things are done to so many people in the name of a religion.

[noralou]

remember the poor child and her hideous death.

I wished I believed in Hell so that those murderers and audience had any consequences for their actions.

Everytime religion gets mixed in with politics, it goes poorly for women. The religious right would make abortion illegal, sex education unavailable and equal pay for equal work even less equal.
It's been a while since we burned and drowned witches in this country, but we are trending that way.

Go Obama - we need some rationality in this bog of true believers.

[Afraid for My Country]

This is exactly what would happen in the United States if the religious-right were to take over. A monopoly of conservative and ultra-conservative religion in control of government is a dangerous thing regardless of the instigator being Christian (the Crusades), Muslim (story above and many others of late), Hindu (see violence against Christans again in India last week), or any number of attrocities committed in the name of religion. Though the Bible and other religious tomes strictly prohibit murder, more people have been killed in the name of religion than for any other cause.
This is one of the reasons why the founding fathers added separation of church and state into our Constitution via the Bill of Rights. If we want things to remain civilized here, we have to be ever vigilant that the power of conservatism is rigidly kept in check.

[Banji81]

I am currently listening to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's 'Infidel' on CD, and her story , while subjective, serves very well to shed light on these issues. Such actions are a huge blight on religion, but religion inherently is not itself a bad thing. As with every good thing, religion has been perverted, and, as such, terrible human beings perpetuate injustices on one another in the name of their own self-serving perception of God. Thier wrong perception and actions do not change the fact that there IS indeed a God, and S/He is great, and greatly saddened by the horrible ways in which we treat each other. May her soul rest in perfect peace.

[TheMastadon]

I respect your right to believe, however how can you state that you know for a FACT that there is a God? And if there is a supreme being how can you then state that you understand his/her mood. You don't even know it's gender for crying out loud. Just because believing in something makes you feel good, does not make it fact.

[Banji81]

And in the reverse, your choice to disbelieve doesn't prove anything but your disbelief. Since you are asking me, I do know for a fact that there is a God - just as well as you seem to know for a fact that S/He is just a feel good concept - an opiate of the masses, if you will. It's all subjective, and there is an argument to be made that a lack of belief is itself a belief of sorts, and perhaps even requires just as much 'faith' - we all believe something. I certainly didn't aim to impose anything on anyone; I was just making a heartfelt point, and the crux of my comment was that humans mistreat each other because we chose to, not because any God, God concept, or 'God-given' edict says so. I call God S/He, because S/He is, according to my beliefs, both AND neither male nor female, S/He just is. If you can come up with a suitable pronoun, do share. In the mean time, may we agree to disagree? :-)

Cheers.

[one4obama]

Prefacing your response with "I respect your right to believe . . ." does not excuse the rest of your response. You may have "respected" OPs right to believe, but you did not "respect" OPs right to have an honest opinion.

[MagisterLudi]

I am appalled that majority of posters are here to deflect the blame from subhumans and their institutions who carried out this barbaric act. Are you all insane?

[stevejbons]

Further proof that when religion becomes the dominent part of a nation's cultural fabric and it gains the upper hand in the area public policy, the rabble become highly judgmental and moralistic and bad things happen. Sort of like what we've seen here in the U.S. over the past 8 years.

[MorpheusXNYC]

Agreed. Religion should be personal, not political. No group should be able to legislate their own personal morality or be able to force anyone else to observe their taboos.

But this atrocity cries out for vengeance, criminal justice, political reform and societal self examination.

THIS is a country where we should be spending time and money and military might to bring about diplomatic and regional change via a U.N. lead effort to de-radicalize their government.

[mattejob]

ummm, we did go there with the UN....and....sigh.

rent 'Blackhawk Down' - it's on DVD.

[MagisterLudi]

Very simple, really. Those incapable of cond emning people and institutions responsible for this barbarism should leave Earth NOW.

[tmaleone]

this is disgusting.

[Wiserone]

Since Palin has the same aggressive stance for the consequences for being raped i.e. it's the woman's fault no matter what, can one then deduce that Palin has a TERROIST mindset? Only asking.

[Dorksforobama]

This is not religion, but sexism rampant in a culture that wants to stay in the Middle Ages. Islam does not teach this.

Poor baby girl. Poor baby girls all over the world...that we as women have to fear that our bodies would be used by those who view us as nothing more than chattel.

It's time we women take back this world and say "NO MORE!"

[MagisterLudi]

Yes it does. Read Sha ria laws, accepted in many countries.

[Dorksforobama]

Islam is the Quran and the Quran only.

Sha ria is a cultural interpretation of the Quran. Man's laws.

[DavidFarmer]

Iook up the "no true scottsman" fallacy. You will see your error.

You are wrong to ignore and excuse the root cause of the problem while decrying the symptoms.

[Village]

There are a billion of these 4th century religious nuts, at least. They are not going away. There is little we can do.

We have the finest government system in the world, and it has been hijacked by The Bush Crime Family, and we as a civilized country are struggling to get it back. Without Senator Obama, it's doubtful we would have succeeded. The religious nuts is this country want to control the women. No birth control, no control over their own bodies.

It's not such a huge leap, is it.

[MidwestMomma]

There is much we can do..like not supporting the governments that keep their own people in the 4th century but we won't as long as we want their resources. Our Energy independence will change the world!

[christianmama4change]

This is so sad but does not define all Somalians. Kenya has UN refugee camps in the north that cater to Somali refugees. I'm not sure how peace will be achieved but we maintain hope in the mediation process going on spearheaded by African Union leaders. God bless the poor little girl and keep her soul in peace.

[scoochamenz]

MidWestMomma: Not sure how you can compare a 13-year-old rape victim being stoned to death for being a rape victim to someone like John Wayne Gacy going to the gas chamber or Ted Bundy going to the electric chair for being serial killers. One is an absolute innocent, the other two barely worth our concern as living beings.

I'm a hardcore Obama supporter and he would say the exact same thing.

[MidwestMomma]

My first response didn't go through but I was speaking of punishment not the crime. In our history we have burned alive, drowned, hung, shot, posioned, electricuted and gased our own people.

[rektruax]

Accent on 'history". And when in that history did it happen to 13 year old girls accused of adultery?

[topkatnc]

manvil41 You are a nut!!! But you made me smile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!