Category: Women’s Rights Matter

Yet another stoning in Somalia with a crowd of 200 watching – this is the second stoning in Somalia this month.  This latest stoning of a woman on November 17, 2009 was done by the extremist group al-Shabab.  BBC and other news services conflict over the age of the woman who was stoned to death (see reports below).

This is the same al-Shabab that also used their extremist version of Sharia law to justify the stoning of 13 year old girl Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow.  Aisha, who was a victim of gang-rape, was also stoned to death while a crowd of 1000 watched.  We urge you to sign our petition demanding government and international recognition of the anti-freedom ideology of extremism used to oppress and to justify violence and murder against women (and men).

— BBC reports: “Somali woman stoned for adultery”
— “A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people.”
— “A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man.”
— “He said she gave birth to a still-born baby and was found guilty of adultery. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes.”
— “It is thought to be the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab.”
— “The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis.”
— “According to reports from a small village near the town of Wajid, 250 miles (400km) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu, the woman was taken to the public grounds where she was buried up to her waist.”
— “She was then stoned to death in front of the crowds on Tuesday afternoon.”
— “The judge, Sheikh Ibrahim Abdirahman, said her unmarried boyfriend was given 100 lashes at the same venue.”
— “Under al-Shabab’s interpretation of Sharia law, anyone who has ever been married – even a divorcee – who has an affair is liable to be found guilty of adultery, punishable by stoning to death.”
— “An unmarried person who has sex before marriage is liable to be given 100 lashes.”
— “BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says the stoning is at least the fourth for adultery in Somalia over the last year.”
— “Earlier this month, a man was stoned to death for adultery in the port town of Merka, south of Mogadishu.”
— “His pregnant girlfriend was spared, until she gives birth.”
— “Last month, two men were stoned to death in Merka after being accused of spying.”
— “President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was sworn in as president after UN-brokered peace talks in January.”
— “Although he says he also wants to implement Sharia, al-Shabab says his version of Islamic law would be too lenient.”
— “The country has not had a functioning national government for 18 years.”

— SINA News quotes Sheikh Abdurrahman, “a Al-Shabaab court judge in ElBon village in Bakool region,” as stating: “Haliimo Ibraahim Abdurrahman, 29, who had been previously married, had an illegal sex with Nanah Mohamed Maadey, 20, previously unmarried, and they have confessed to the acts in front of the court which sentenced Halimo to be stoned to death and Nanah to receive 100 lashes in accordance with the Islamic law.”

— South Africa News 24/DPA reports: “Somali woman stoned to death”
— “Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab has stoned a 29-year-old married woman to death for adultery, the second such execution this month, officials said.”
— “Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Abdirahman, an al-Shabaab judge, also ordered the woman’s sexual partner, and unmarried man, to receive one hundred lashes.”
— “Hundreds of spectators watched the stoning late on Tuesday in the village of Eelbon, southern Somalia.”
— “Al-Shabaab and its ally Hizbul Islam are battling the weak central government and control much of south and central Somalia. They have been implementing strict sharia, or Islamic law, in the areas they control, ordering floggings and executions. They have also banned musical ringtones and dancing at weddings. An estimated 19 000 civilians have died since early 2007 in Somalia’s bloody insurgency…”

— Daily Nation reports “Somalia: Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery”:
— “Mogadishu — An unnamed woman was stoned to death at Eel-boon in Wajid district, 330 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu, on Wednesday. She was sentenced by an Islamic court after she was found guilty of adultery.”
— “The woman was taken to a square, her body half buried and then stoned.”
— “A crowd was present as well as officials of al-Shabaab, an Islamist movement that opposes the Transitional Federal Government and controls a large territory in Southern and Central Somalia.”
— “A young man, who was also caught in the same adulterous act, received 100 strokes of the cane.”
— “According to Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Abdurahman, a judge of the Islamic court who sentenced the woman to death and the man to whipping said the cases differed.”
— ” ‘The woman was had been married before and under Sharia (Islamic law) she is to be stoned to death upon proof,’ said Sheikh Abdurahman.”
— ” ‘The young man with no previous marriage experience is to receive 100 whips under the same law,’ he added.”
— “Last Friday, another Islamic court that falls under the control of al-Shabaab sentenced a young man to death by stoning in Marka town, 110 kilometres south of Mogadishu. He was found guilty of committing adultery following a case of alleged rape.”
— “At a football stadium facing the Indian Ocean, the condemned man was taken to a corner of the playground, his body half buried in dirt before youngsters started hitting him with stones.”
— “Before the execution, the clergymen who rule Marka town and surrounding areas announced that a woman who had also been sentenced for committing adultery was in custody, to be stoned.”
— “The woman is said to be pregnant.”
— “Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam, the Islamist groups that strongly oppose the TFG, generally enforce the severe punishments.”
— “In 2008, a teenage girl was accused of adultery in Kismayu, 500 kilometres south of Mogadishu, sentenced by a court and stoned to death.”