Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[CP]

Today's Los Angeles Times ran this story from the Associated Press. What kind of society or religion would condone this kind of outrageous murder of the victim of a brutal crime? Here it is in full:

Somali Rape Victim, 13, Stoned to Death, Human Rights Group Says

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA -- A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in Kismayo rang unanswered today.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[pdolivas]

Problem is that in Muslim society, if a woman is raped, they are the ones that suffer the harshest punishment, not the rapist! The family of the victim usually then murders the victim for bringing dishonor to the family name.

[Anuradha Chepur]

A woman is somehow empowered by virtue of her sexuality as well as her right to protection. I think the whole idea is to downplay a woman by hiding her in a veil, not allowing her to protest even when she is raped, deprive her any rights whatsoever. And on the other hand empower the insecure man to do whatever he wants to � marry a woman, enslave her, treat her like a child wending machine, divorce her when he is bored with her and marry another woman, rape women, kill a daughter or a sister if she is raped or if she refuses to wear a veil.

[peterteacher]

I don't think ANYONE should ever be stoned to death.
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[cuijun_hu]

Anyone, man or woman, should resort to his/her own wisdom as the ultimate protection. Individuals on their own cannot give the impression of violating the system under which they live, if that system does not have reliable legal or democratic establishments to respect and protect. If I were the woman, I were likely not educated to understand human rights, the law, or modern humane systems in other parts of the world; I knew I did not want to die; so I would bite the bullet and not let anyone know I had been raped, and live on. If life goes on, then there's hope that it may get better.
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Bloom where you're planted.

[CP]

Well, Cuijun Hu, it is true that this woman would not have been stoned to death by these barbaric murderers if she had kept quiet, but when all the rape victims keep quiet, all the rapists are protected and encouraged to rape again. The murdered girl brought attention to the problem, and maybe one day it will be the rapists, rather than their victims, who face harsh punishment.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Anuradha Chepur]

Yeah, women are at fault for having female bodies and evoking lust in men.

[CP]

And we men are innocent because we can't help being attracted to women, just as God made us.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb