The UN issued a strong condemnation on Friday of the killing of a 13-year-old rape victim who was stoned to death in southern Somalia late October last month.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said she was “horrified” by the killing and urgently called for better protection of children in Somalia, a statement from her office said.
“The incident highlights the extreme nature of violence against children and women in Somalia which has been heightened by the increasing lawlessness,” Coomaraswamy said.
Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was stoned to death by a mob in a public execution on Oct. 27 after being found guilty of adultery by an Islamic court in the southern port city of Kismayo, which was taken over by radical Islamists in August.
The victim was buried up to her neck before a group of men in the crowd pelted her head with stones.
The UN Children’s Fund said on Tuesday she had been walking to visit her grandmother in the Kismayo area when she was raped by three men.
“Following the assault, she sought protection from the authorities, who then accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death,” UNICEF said.
“This is a tragic and deplorable incident. A child was victimized twice — first by the perpetrators of the rape and then by those responsible for administering justice,” UNICEF Representative for Somalia Christian Balslev-Olesen said.
Kismayo was taken over on Aug. 22 by fighters loyal to Islamic leader Hassan Turki, identified as a terrorism financier by the US government, and the militant Shebab, the largest group of extremist Islamic fighters in Somalia.
Since then the city authorities have instituted the strict version of Shariah, or Islamic law.
In highlighting the killing of the child, Coomaraswamy’s office said the Special Representative “also raised serious concerns about widespread recruitment and use of children by all parties to the conflict.”
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