Rape victim, 13, stoned to death by 1,000 men in stadium
'Don't kill me,' she screamed. Then they stoned her to death
Monday, 10 November 2008
enlarge
Print
Email
This was a death foretold. A Toyota pickup with a loudspeaker began an early-morning tour of the ruined neighbourhoods of Kismayo, a port in southern Somalia, announcing that there would be a killing. By 4pm a crowd of 1,000 people had gathered at the football stadium. A hole had been dug in the ground, and half an hour later a truck loaded with rocks arrived.
A group of fighters from the Al-Shabab militia who control the city appeared, firing warning shots into the air to disperse a crush of people trying to reach the stones.
A young girl was dragged into the stadium. She knew what was going to happen next, and witnesses saw her struggling and screaming.
"What do you want from me?" she asked. Then she shouted "I'm not going, I'm not going. Don't kill me."
But four men forced her into the hole and buried her up to her neck. Fifty men then set about stoning her to death. After 10 minutes she was dug up and two nurses checked to see if she was alive. She was. So they put her back in the ground and the stoning recommenced.
Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow's crime was to be raped and then report it. After being attacked by three men her family went to the Al-Shabab Islamist militia to report the crime. She was detained and accused of adultery. No effort was made to identify or arrest the rapists.
Despite reports that she was 23 years old, Aisha was actually 13. "She hadn't even reached the age to be married," her distraught father said.
People in Kismayo say they live in constant fear of the Al-Shabab, but not everyone was content to watch a "clearly distressed" girl being stoned to death. Some people tried to intervene. The gunmen fired shots; one man was wounded and an eight-year-old boy was shot dead. The militia later apologised for his killing.
After the execution a man called Sheik Hayakalah told a radio station: "The evidence came from her side and she officially confirmed her guilt," he said. "She told us that she was happy with the punishment under Islamic law." Aisha's father said his daughter had begged for her life. It is illegal under Sharia to convict a 13-year-old of adultery.
Somalia is nightmarish. During the Cold War its strategic location on the Horn of Africa saw it become possibly the world's largest arms dump. With no effective government for nearly two decades, it has become a theatre for the proxy wars of its neighbours and a domain ruled by warlords and extremists. The emergence of the Islamic Courts movement, which drove the warlords out of Mogadishu, briefly offered hope of relative stability. Instead the movement was portrayed as a hotbed of Islamist extremism, accused of links to al-Qa'ida, and neighbouring Ethiopia was encouraged by the US to invade.
Today the country is divided between warlords, an illegitimate government protected by occupying troops, resurgent Islamist militias and a small, besieged force of Ugandan peacekeepers. Three million people out of a population of nine million are at immediate risk of starvation.
Incidents such as the stoning are presented by some as evidence of the need to confront Islamist forces in the country. However, analysts point out that the "military solution" has been a crushing failure that has driven out moderates and made a bad situation dramatically worse.
Post a comment
Limit: 500 characters
View all comments that have been posted about this article
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP address logged and may be used to prevent further submissions. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by BelfastTelegraph.co.uk's Terms of Use.
Posts submitted in UPPERCASE letters will be rejected.
Comments
42 Comments
Glen asks,what can we do to stop it? The west was quick to invade other countries,not saying they should do that here,but,something substantial needs to be done. Not just a ticking off.
Posted by UNIONCRUISER | 13.11.08, 21:03 GMT
In my experience of talking to people,and I mean a lot of people,in my travels,I'm commonly hearing of their fear and disgust at our government allowing an Islamist movement to fester in our country where people have fought to reach some form of decency and morality acceptable to the majority of our people.Maybe not perfect at times,but still light years away from any form of Islam and it's sharia law.And I'm not a racist,I'm pointing to a danger that most of us are looking at.
Posted by Daniel | 12.11.08, 17:48 GMT
I have no respect for any religious system of values which would justify such barbarity. The people who carried out this act in the ideal world should themselves be buried up to their own necks and stoned to death.
I was against the invasion of Iraq, but I would have no problem invading countries which sanction such laws. Of course that won't happen as there's no financial dividend.
Pity.
Derek
Posted by derek | 11.11.08, 20:25 GMT
why is this not headline news and the international community at least saying they condemn it , if not actually taking action to intervene?
Perhaps this paper could mount a campaign to publicise it - certainly more news worthy than some of the events that hit our headlines - or is it too far away for us to really care?
Posted by Disgusted | 11.11.08, 18:26 GMT
And how dare they impose their judgements and tell us what to do in our world? The fact that they condemn such trivial matters, yet go against the Bible so blatantly its scary!
Posted by Reader | 11.11.08, 17:23 GMT
What can we do to stop this?
Posted by Glenn Harvey | 11.11.08, 16:59 GMT
These animals should be wiped off the face of the earth. This is unbelievable and I hope that the appropriate authorities follow this up and see that these backward religious nutters are dealt with properly. I'd gladly stand by and watch them being stoned to death myself and take some pleasure in it!
Posted by R Peters | 11.11.08, 15:40 GMT
Radical Islam is the new Nazi doctrine, and we would do well to begin to understand the evil that it represents to our free societies in the West, and to the wider world. We are too complacent and too Politically Correct about condemning this "religion" for fear of being labeled with the catch-all smear of recist, but like the brave men who fought totalitaranism and Nazism, we should not be afraid.
Posted by Séamus | 11.11.08, 13:44 GMT
Its beggars belief that these people can get away with such actions in the 21st century. An absolute disgrace.
Posted by Susan | 11.11.08, 13:05 GMT
If condemning the rape and brutal murder of a child by a howling armed mob, who have a religious justification for their behaviour , is deemed racist and Xenophobic, then I for one would be proud to be called a Racist and Xenophobe. (Tony 10/11) If a credo allows this sort of thing then outlaw it.
I am not however a racist or Xenophobe but I wont allow liberal woolyness to prevent me from condemning evil when I see it. These labels provide cover for the morally ambivalent PC brigade. Incidentally, there was a badge for the politically incorrect who were locked up and murdered by the Nazis in Dachau. I'd be proud to wear this, particularly on Remembrance Day
Posted by Dan Sweeney | 11.11.08, 12:28 GMT
I'm sickened to the pit of my stomach reading this. These people are retarded. This is religion for you...
Posted by R Crowson | 11.11.08, 11:37 GMT
We need to hear strong condemnation from moderate Islamic leadership.
Posted by T J McClean | 11.11.08, 09:39 GMT
What a sickening story. This happens, in the 21st century, while the world stands back and does nothing. The UN or the Americans should move in and take thiese people out.
Posted by neal | 11.11.08, 01:59 GMT
Jon Hatch please don't confuse an agnostic with an atheist. I believe there may be a deity but haven't had it proved to me yet. However when appalling acts like this are perpetrated in the name of a "Supreme Being" I can only believe either there isn't one or he/she was looking the other way!
Posted by Appalled Agnostic | 10.11.08, 23:50 GMT
Sounds like there is no organized police force. If this happened anywhere in any civilized country, the cops would be there in three minutes and everyone with guns would be arrested.
Posted by brian m | 10.11.08, 18:58 GMT
Somalia is truly a lawless land! Please, tourists, dont go there
Posted by John | 10.11.08, 18:29 GMT
I think you'll find hundreds of Muslims who will agree with this article and agree that this shouldn't have happened and should not be allowed to continue. It's not turning people against Islam. It's addressing a horrible, horrible issue that should be confronted. There aren't any agendas here, only a 13 year old girls human rights.
Posted by S | 10.11.08, 16:38 GMT
Have to say, in reading about this happening in this modern day age, it makes my stomach turn, for this to happen to an innocent 13year old, and for those people throwing the stones and watching this happen, one of the worst i have ever heard
Posted by micheal | 10.11.08, 15:31 GMT
Some of the racist and xenophobic comments left on this page are an illustration of a much bigger problem.
Posted by Tony | 10.11.08, 14:34 GMT
Imran, how on earth under ANY circumstances, under any law, under any religion, at any time or in any place can an act like this be justified? This is murder plain and simple.
Not so long ago a young lady in S. Arabia was sentenced to lashes after being raped because she should not have been in a situation to "allow" it happen. The King stepped in after an international outcry to stop it. These incidences certainly do the good name of Islam no good.
Posted by Jake M | 10.11.08, 13:30 GMT
42 Comments