Amnesty: Rape girl, 13, killed for adultery

[SoulManX]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- 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.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/01/amnesty.rape.somalia.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

 

[The Original Bamfer]

On a depressing and disturbing article kick tonight?

 

[Schlosser85]

Stoning a 13-year-old rape victim to death. The courage of these militants never fails to amaze me.

 

[Sentinel X]

That is so sad
shes only 13 years old! Thats terrible...tradition or not this is just absolute cruelty. She was raped by THREE men @ 13 years old but she gets stoned because she was crying out for help?

ugh. Even if you DID grow up with such a stupid tradition of stoning a girl who got raped you SHOULD still know better by the time you reach adulthood...you should know deep down inside that isn't right.

 

[SoulManX]

On a depressing and disturbing article kick tonight?

Hadn't looked at that way.

 

[Troy_Parker]

Oh..My..God..People are sick and cruel

 

[YoungE808]

Lol those people are still living in the past? Stoning somebody? Wow...

 

[raybia]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- 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.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/01/amnesty.rape.somalia.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Its hard to know what to say at something like this. The world seems to be a very unjust place. This is very tragic and barbaric. Living in the United States has us more or less living with the impression that the world is a civilized place but the reality is that there are places on earth that are a throwback to centuries before.

I am very thankful and appreciative that I live in America in spite of even all of our problems and brutal acts that take place on a daily basis.

 

[knowsbleed]

Its hard to know what to say at something like this. The world seems to be a very unjust place. This is very tragic and barbaric. Living in the United States has us more or less living with the impression that the world is a civilized place but the reality is that there are places on earth that are a throwback to centuries before.

I am very thankful and appreciative that I live in America in spite of even all of our problems and brutal acts that take place on a daily basis.

Anybody who lives in what they consider to be a civilized place should be thankful. For if you truly try and imagine yourself being in that poor 13 year old's place, then you should have nothing but appreciation that you didn't go through what she went through.

 

[raybia]

Anybody who lives in what they consider to be a civilized place should be thankful. For if you truly try and imagine yourself being in that poor 13 year old's place, then you should have nothing but appreciation that you didn't go through what she went through.

I cannot imagine for a second what she went through nor her family.

 

[C. Lee]

Keep things civil in here people. Do not condemn a whole religion or it's practicioners because of the actions of a few.

 

[knowsbleed]

Keep things civil in here people. Do not condemn a whole religion or it's practicioners because of the actions of a few.

Not condemning a whole religiong here... but to call a "stadium packed with 1,000 spectators" a "few" is sort of downplaying the girl's death.

 

[Bubonic]

Keep things civil in here people. Do not condemn a whole religion or it's practicioners because of the actions of a few.

OK so it was a poorly chosen place to try to be funny.
But although most Islamic people I know are a kind, caring bunch, there is an overabundance of violence in the religion as a whole, enough so for me to be stupidly satirical about it.

Not sure if it is more violent then Christianity or Judaism by nature, or because it has degraded due to a culture wide insecurity brought upon by what some call a war on Islam... But there seems to be a lot more violent ****ing fundamentalism in said religion then most others I hear about.

Just the other day I say a news piece on a little girl who was molested and set on fire because she was wearing lipstick.

Oh, but people keep telling me these a isolated incidents and that Islam is a religion of peace.

 

[raybia]

Not condemning a whole religiong here... but to call a "stadium packed with 1,000 spectators" a "few" is sort of downplaying the girl's death.

I believe that C. Lee's statement was a generalization of an early comment and not directly about this girl's death. With that said for anyone trying to make an connection between Islam and/or Muslims and this girls death a 1000 spectators (assuming they were all Muslims and please provide proof that they were for whoever want to argue that point) is a few compared to 1.3 billion adherents.

It is my opinion that this was not religiously motivated but is an unfortunate cultural practice.

 

[Bubonic]

And the culture being based on what exactly?

 

[raybia]

And the culture being based on what exactly?

The culture of Somalia? Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Islam in Somalia was established around the 7th century but there are practices in Somalian culture that predate Islam.

Also there are various sects and schools of thought with some more radical in its beliefs than others so the specific interpretation that Somailans practice would definitely play a role.

Somalia is also a society that has a clan system that is not related to religion and this and a nomadic lifestyle definitely plays a great role on the culture.

Another factor on the present culture of Somalia is the colonization of the West in the late 19th century, the occupation of Facist Italy during WWII and then Britain until the country obtained its independence in the 1960s.

Besides culture, there is political ideology of the country that would have an effect as well of things like war which Somalia has more or less been in a civil war for the past 40 years and under various rule by vicious dictators.

Going back to religion, of course dictatorships and oppressive regimes are going to favor and promote a form and interpretation of Islam that will enable them to maintain control of the masses and culture overall is a major component in controlling people. The death of this girls was at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo.

It is my opinion that Somalia would still be a hell on Earth regardless of its present religious beliefs.

 

[Sensi]

This is very sad.

 

[SuperFerret]

It's sad, and terrible, but that's what it's like in other places. It's not surprising.

 

[SuperZer0]

 

[ComicChick]

this is sad

on a side note; somalia hasn't had a functioning gov't since 1991. how come the UN or someone hasn't stepped in and tried to improve things there?

despite its ugliness, i realize how fortunate i am to be living in the USA

 

[The Senator]

Sharia Law, as used at its extremes by radical Islamic fundamentalists, is backwards and barbaric. I am not surprised by this in the least, considering children have had their hands chopped off for stealing, women who have been impregnated outside of marriage have been publicly stoned to death, and homosexuals have been thrown off of cliffs in Somalia and other middle eastern countries.

Hopefully these disturbing practices will some day come to an end.