Nicholas Kristof has regularly written in his op-ed pieces in the NY Times on Africa, in particular Somalia and Darfur.
He writes yesterday:
"Since my last column referred to the tragedy unfolding in Somalia — the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now — the following news item from Reuters today caught my eye:
'Kismayu, Somalia — Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years.
The 23-year-old woman was executed late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August, witnesses said. Guards opened fire when a relative ran forward, killing a child, they said.
“A woman in green veil and black mask was brought in a car as we waited to watch the merciless act of stoning,” one local resident, Abdullahi Aden, told Reuters. “We were told she submitted herself to be punished, yet we could see her screaming as she was forcefully bound, legs and hands. A relative of hers ran towards her, but the Islamists opened fire and killed a child.'
The stoning is a window into the increasing militancy (and also anti-Americanism) of the Islamic forces in Somalia. And under Islamic law, the stoning is almost certainly illegitimate; there are supposed to be four male adult witnesses to the sex itself for a person to be punished for adultery. The Prophet Muhammad had the revelation with that stipulation after his own favorite wife, Aisha, was left behind by the caravan and rescued by a man. Since there was no one else with them, she was suspect of adultery, but Muhammad spoke up for her and had the accusers flogged.
Often Islamic militants and hard-liners punish a woman based on the evidence of her pregnancy, but it’s very often a pregnancy from rape. And to punish a woman for being raped by stoning her to death is truly barbaric."
He writes yesterday:
"Since my last column referred to the tragedy unfolding in Somalia — the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now — the following news item from Reuters today caught my eye:
'Kismayu, Somalia — Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years.
The 23-year-old woman was executed late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August, witnesses said. Guards opened fire when a relative ran forward, killing a child, they said.
“A woman in green veil and black mask was brought in a car as we waited to watch the merciless act of stoning,” one local resident, Abdullahi Aden, told Reuters. “We were told she submitted herself to be punished, yet we could see her screaming as she was forcefully bound, legs and hands. A relative of hers ran towards her, but the Islamists opened fire and killed a child.'
The stoning is a window into the increasing militancy (and also anti-Americanism) of the Islamic forces in Somalia. And under Islamic law, the stoning is almost certainly illegitimate; there are supposed to be four male adult witnesses to the sex itself for a person to be punished for adultery. The Prophet Muhammad had the revelation with that stipulation after his own favorite wife, Aisha, was left behind by the caravan and rescued by a man. Since there was no one else with them, she was suspect of adultery, but Muhammad spoke up for her and had the accusers flogged.
Often Islamic militants and hard-liners punish a woman based on the evidence of her pregnancy, but it’s very often a pregnancy from rape. And to punish a woman for being raped by stoning her to death is truly barbaric."
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