Somali Girl Raped and Stoned to Death

Vanessa Valenti- November 12, 2008 - 5:51 pmIt doesn't get worse than this. 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 footto visit her grandmother in conflict capital, Mogadishu. When she wentto the authorities to report the crime, they accused her of adulteryand sentenced her to death. Aisha was forced into a hole in a stadiumof 1,000 onlookers as 50 men buried her up to the neck and cast stonesat 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.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, issued a heated statementcondemning the brutal killing, calling for the protection of childrenin Somalia. She said, "The incident highlights the extreme nature ofviolence against children and women in Somalia, which has beenheightened by the increasing lawlessness."

Coomaraswamy also raised concern of the increasing recruitment ofchildren as soldiers, in which they are killed on a daily basis. ButAisha's death not only serves as a reminder of the brutality towardschildren in the midst of war, but a reminder of the brutality towardswomen. This girl was raped, and killed, because she was female.