Stoning of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow

In 1991, the government of then President of Somalia Siad Barre was overthrown by a coalition of armed factions.[5] The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took control of the southern half of Somalia in 2006, imposing Shari'a law.[6] In 2006, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) assisted by Ethiopian troops re-captured the capital Mogadishu, largely driving the ICU's leaders out of the country. Al-Shabaab, the ICU's militant and youth branch, subsequently took up irregular warfare and guerrilla tactics against the allied forces.[5][6] In 2008, the group was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, which launched missile strikes against the militants early in the year.[7] Several thousand local civilians were killed by the militants during the height of the insurgency between December 2006 and October 2008. In the months leading up to Duhulow's execution, Al-Shabaab had been gaining strength, as it had seized control of the Port of Kismayo, essentially shut down Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks.[5]

Duhulow and her family moved to the southern city of Kismayo, Somalia from the Hagardeer refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya in July 2008.[8][9] According to one of her teachers, Muno Mohamed Osman, who had taught Duhulow for a few months and did not remember her well, she struggled during class and "didn't look mentally fit[...] She was always in trouble with students, teachers[...] She was just a child."[9] Three months after her arrival in Kismayo, Duhulow was reportedly raped by three armed men while travelling on foot to visit her grandmother in Mogadishu in October 2008.[8][10] Her aunt took her to a police station to report the incident to the Al-Shabaab Islamist militia in Kismayo, which at the time controlled the city's court system. They were asked to return to the station a few days later, having been told that two suspects had been apprehended. Duhulow was subsequently arrested by the insurgents under charges that she had "chatted up" the men and committed adultery.[10] She was then sentenced to death by stoning. The militant tribunal asserted that Duhulow had come to it with an admission of guilt, and that she was repeatedly asked to reconsider her confession but that she instead insisted that she wanted Sharia law and the attendant punishment to be applied.[4] One militant, Sheik Hayakalah, stated that "the evidence came from her side and she officially confirmed her guilt[...] She told us that she was happy with the punishment under Islamic law."[11] No attempts were made by the insurgent group to apprehend Duhulow's purported attackers.[12]

On October 27, 2008, during the afternoon, several militants transported Duhulow to a public stadium in Kismayo containing around 1,000 people.[4][12] She reportedly struggled with the insurgents and at one point screamed, "What do you want from me[...] I'm not going, I'm not going. Don't kill me."[4] Four militants subsequently forced Duhulow into a dug out hole, burying her up to the neck.[12] Around 50 militants participated in the ensuing execution, throwing rocks at her head.[13] According to witnesses, nurses were then instructed to verify whether Duhulow was still alive.[12][14] After ten minutes, she was dug out of the hole and two nurses confirmed that she was still alive, after which point Duhulow was put back in the hole and the stoning resumed. Although many witnesses to the event were too afraid of the armed militants to intervene, several bystanders attempted to save her. The insurgents responded by opening fire on them, in the process killing an eight-year-old boy.[2][12] An Al-Shabaab spokesman later apologized for the child's death, and pledged that the shooter would be punished.[2]

In December 2008, Nada Ali of Human Rights Watch (HWR) cited Duhulow as an example of women in the parts of south-central Somalia that were at the time under insurgent control who had little recourse to fair trials and health services. She stated, "Aisha's horrific death is likely to discourage rape victims from reporting rape or seeking justice from the Islamist insurgents." Ali also urged the United Nations Security Council to form an international investigative commission to inquire into the worst crimes reportedly committed against civilians during the conflict.[15]

CBC journalist Debi Goodwin wrote, "To the world, Aisha became a symbol of the dangers of extremism."[9] On October 27, 2010, a "2nd Annual Memorial Lecture" was held by the Newcastle Amnesty Group to commemorate the second anniversary of Duhulow's death.[16] That same year, Associate Professor Susanne Scholtz dedicated her book, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (2010), to her great-aunt, the rape victims in the Congo, and Duhulow, saying, "I honor Aisha and what she had to endure in her young life."[17]

• Human rights in Somalia

• Benson, Ophelia; Stangroom, Jeremy (2009). Does God Hate Women?. Continuum. ISBN 978-0826498267.
• Dickinson, Rob (2012). Examining Critical Perspectives on Human Rights. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107006935.
• Goodwin, Debbie (2011). Citizens of Nowhere: From Refugee Camp to Canadian Campus. Random House. ISBN 978-0385667234.
• Scholz, Susanne (2010). Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1451423754.

• Harmon, Christopher; Pratt, Andrew; Gorka, Sebastian (2010). Toward a Grand Strategy Against Terrorism. McGraw Hill Professional. p. 4. ISBN 978-0073527796.
• Niose, David (2012). Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans. Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137055286.
• United States Senate (2008). Congressional Record, Volume 154 Part 18. Government Printing Office. p. 24,357.
• Willems, Jan C.M. (2010). Children's rights and human development: a multidisciplinary reader. Intersentia. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-9400000322.