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13-Year-Old Somali Rape Victim Stoned to Death in Front of 1000 Spectators
Before I get to the story in the headline, a brief preface:
Like so many of you, I've had the incredible privilege of being part of election 2008, first as Hillary Clinton's Internet Director and then - as part of Hillary's team - doing everything possible to help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
And like so many of you, I shed tears when Obama was declared the winner, the long nightmare of Bush's presidency at an end and a new era at hand with a president who commands respect, who understands the issues, who is disciplined and dignified, who will begin healing the deep wounds of the past eight years.
I've been an online activist since 2001 and November 4th was a day to reflect on how much the netroots have achieved, something I wrote about recently. With 2000 and 2008 as bookends, I realized how focused many of us have been on all things Bush, doing our best to protect the country we love from his radical administration.
Going forward, there will be more work than ever for the online community, especially considering that we'll have a networked presidency. From a personal standpoint, now that Bush is on his way out, one of the things I want to spend more time writing about is the horrendous mistreatment of women and children around the globe.
Speaking of which, Vanessa Valenti posted a truly horrific story on UN Dispatch, a blog I've helped edit since early 2005 and where I'll be concentrating most of my writing in the months to come:
Last week, 13-year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was stoned to death in Somalia by insurgents because she was raped. Reports indicate that was raped by three men while traveling by foot to visit her grandmother in conflict capital, Mogadishu.
When she went to the authorities to report the crime, they accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death. Aisha was forced into a hole in a stadium of 1,000 onlookers as 50 men buried her up to the neck and cast stones at her until she died.When some of the people at the stadium tried to save her, militia opened fire on the crowd, killing a boy who was a bystander.
I hope we can all work with the incoming administration to begin creating conditions in which we can banish this barbaric and malevolent behavior from our planet.
Follow Peter Daou on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peterdaou
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Rage.
the world has gone mad.
this report is horrible!
We have crazed people right over our border. Last week a Mexican boy (8 yrs old) was kidnapped by drug dealers and had acid injected into his heart! It barely made the news and those bastards are within walking distance here.
Come come now, all cultures are equal and deserve respect. US culture is certainly not better. Who are we to judge? Oh, wait a minute, I thought I was a college professor for a minute...
Naahhhh, you simply suffer from delusions of sanity. Not all cultures are sane. Especially rightwing conservative cultures. That Somali culture? It's very conservative, though maybe a little left of you.
Don't worry, FTracy, you're not. Not even for a minute.
And Muslims wonder why they have an image problem? Recent Huff Po writers have chided Obama for not denouncing anti-Islamic sentiments. The stoning of this precious child was carried out because of verses in the Glorious Kur'an.
I would like to hear from recenty poster Mr. Salimi regarding this barbaric and insane act by Muslims acting in accordance with Kur'anic teachings.
As an unabashed tree-hugging liberal, I support the right of all religions to exist. That does not mean I necessarily respect them. My respect for Islam declines with each barbaric act which comes to light. It is not MY job to rehabilitate Islam. Where are the Muslim protests against this outrage? Do they really think a compassionate G-d was pleased by this? Islam respects women? Oh, puh-leaze!
I am disgusted and horrified.
This has as much to do with Muslims as cross burning have to do with christianity.
Absolutely correct.
And the Saturday night hangings of blacks with ropes from trees through American history has no relationship to the good Sunday morning Baptist churchgoers who did the lynching and who believe in the teachings of Christ.
Violence exists independent of religious belief.
Blame for that violence inaccurately conflates theism with sadism.
For all the Muslims who live decently and respectfully to others, there are those ----mostly all men-----who will act violently and claim Allah gave them permission.
Violent behavior, in this case extreme misogyny, will always seek a rationalization.
The truth, that cruelty reveals an inner coldness and lack of empathy, doesn't emanate from religion, but from that coldness.
If you understood anything about Somalia, you'd know that this sort of crap has a lot more to do with Somali culture as it exists within the lack of a stable government than it does with Islam. This is a symptom of the general anarchy and warfare that exists in that country, like the Somali fishermen turned pirates.
Wait a damn minute, they simply have small government. One that is rapidly approaching Grover Norquist's recommended size.
We get it. An Islamic group uses strict Islamic law ( identical to the one used in Iran) to try, condemn and execute a young woman according to the verbatim directions in the Sharia and this has nothing to do with Islam?!
There's a point where the defense of the indefensible becomes a farce. Consider it..
This murder was committed in the name of radical insurgency, broken and failed rule of law, and systemic failures in the Somali government. It was not committed in the name of Islam.
What can I do to help?
For starters, tell everybody you know about this. That's how the discussion starts.
A good advice, angryliberal.
Try Amnesty International for starters. I read that they were working with this issue. I am sure there are several groups who are. This treatment of women is unfortunately too common in some countries. Sure makes me feel grateful to have born here in the US.
"When she went to the authorities to report the crime, they accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death."
WHAT??? On top of being raped, she was married at 13? 13? 13?
Bless her innocent little heart, This is the lowest of the low in treatment of women.
Nothing will be done about this until someone puts it on the big screen. If this atrocity were to be reenacted in a movie, people would start to contribute money, call their congressman and generally get involved. Someone needs to shine a spotlight on the Somali death squads, the same way that Michael Moore shined a spotlight on Bush's Iraq disaster with Fahrenheit 911. Unfortunately, this is just going to be another quick newspaper snippet, which will quickly fall by the wayside and be forgotten.
Yeah ok. Just like Hotel Rwanda and Blood Diamonds fixed the problems that they spolighted. Genocide, torture, corruption, pillaging, and rape are all still happening.
Yes, but I know a few more people who don't support buying blood diamonds because of the attention garnered from these kinds of movies and money is what feeds into that particular problem.
Sick. People are sick.
While I feel for this girl, we are not the world's policeman! We just have to face the fact that we can't solve every problem, nor should we attempt to do so.
What the world needs now .... is no r.e.l.i.g.i.on.
It drives its members into insanity.
Amen!
'Amen'... cute.But agreed.
My personal prejudice: I would make an exception for Ch'an and Zen, and maybe some other Mahayana streams.
But NO exception for Nichiren and Pure Land.... sorry.
P.S. I am also down with my homeboy Lao Tzu :-)
Sure, why not? Ignore all the humanitarian good done in the name of religion, and look only at the worst things done in the name of religion.
I love Bill Maher, generally, but this is what he just doesn't get, and what you apparently don't get: It's not "religion" that causes these things; it's depraved human nature using religion as an excuse to commit various crimes and atrocities under its banner. If it weren't this excuse, it would be another, and if you think banishing religion will end this sort of thing, you are seriously deluding yourselves. There is not a society in history, religious or not, that hasn't been primitive enough at one point or another to engage in this sort of thing. Blaming it on religion is missing the point entirely.
Countries around the world need to step up and enact laws that trumps cultural and religious rules that infringes on women's rights.
Oy.
So many countries are religion-run countries.
Like ours.
ReasonIS, you're unwilling to accept that many US government policies directly contradict the Jude-Christian moral code? Therefore making the connection between US government and dominant Christianity rather tenuous and less than conclusive.
If some people in the "audience" tried to save this poor young woman, why were they there to begin with? Did they plan in advance to try to save her? Were they overcome with horror & disgust as this horrific event played out before their eyes? How long did this sick spectacle last before the girl was dead? Did the "stoners" continue throwing their little stones after she had died? How could they even tell?
What an unbelievably sad life: gang raped at 13 and then stoned to death for being a victim.
I feel sick. Knew I shouldn't read about this when I saw the story a while ago. Just like I won't read about the Afghani females blinded by acid in the other hideous story here at HP.
You arent thinking, maybe they went there with the purpose of trying to save her.
I didn't read this article but read about this from digg yesterday. The girl was pulled out of the hole several times to check to see if she was d.ead and then put back in and stoned more. One boy who supposedly did try to stop it was s.hot.
Tragic!
This law is based on the Old Testament which is used by both Christianity and Islam:
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city. -- Deuteronomy 22:23-24
This is the same book of Bronze Aged Myths that was used to justify the passing of Prop 8. It's time to chunk these horrible books out the window!
Perhaps.
More to the point, for me, it is time to keep these books from guiding policy in a multi-religious country.
Why can't we keep them from guiding policy AND chuck them out? Seems like the perfect solution to me.
That verse really has nothing to do with what happened here. First of all she was raped, she did not "lie down" with anyone by choice. Second, it says that both sides of the adultery should be stoned, Why weren't the men that raped her not buried in holes right next to her?
Sure it does. In a country where religion is what governs the people, it is the only thing that matters. That is the thing about these religious texts. They can be vague enough for people to make their own determinations of what was meant. Lying down can be and is interpretted as being the act of intercourse, period. There is no distinction in the text between consentual (sp) or forced.
As far as why the men were not stoned, we don't really know, but don't automatically assume that they were caught and let go. Look how well that argument plays out even in this country. Many perpetrators are not caught or are ever brought to justice for one reason or another.
yes but don't forget that there is no stipulation in the bible that says a women better not report a rape unless she has 4 MALE witnesses. If she can't provide the proof in that matter, she's considered a liar
This event is an outrage and a tragedy, but it is also preventable. For those who are interested, please become aware of how the Bush administration dismantled the negotiated settlement in Somalia because there were plans to include "undesirable" Muslim clerics in the coalition government.
Why?.YOU find the ( so called) people who carried out this atrocity "desirable?"
How is it even possible to misunderstand my comment?
The people in the planned coalition government were political leaders, not religious fanatics. The coalition government would have acted to PREVENT these atrocities. The coalition came about through careful negotiation and civil discourse. Instead, we have lawlessness and carnage.
Don't be antagonistic / obtuse. It's beneath you.
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