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UN Experts Condemn "Brutal Summary Execution" of Teenage Girls in Somalia



GENEVA (11 November 2010) – Six independent UN experts* on Thursday condemned the recent public execution, by firing squad, of two teenage girls in central Somalia, saying the executions are the latest manifestation of the “appalling human rights crisis that is plaguing the country.”

“We were horrified to learn of the public execution, reportedly carried out by Al-Shabaab insurgents on 27 October in front of hundreds of residents in Beledweyne,” the experts said. “We join the Somali people in condemning, in the strongest terms, these latest brutal summary executions of two young women convicted without any semblance of due process.”

The six experts called on the parties to the conflict “to immediately refrain from committing acts of extrajudicial executions, torture, stonings, decapitation, amputations and floggings as well as other human rights violations, including with regard to freedom of religion.”

The six UN experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, said they were deeply concerned that “groups such as Al-Shabaab are taking Somalia back into the stone age.”

“In Mogadishu and in southern and central regions, judicial institutions have ceased to function,” the experts said, noting that human rights organizations have received credible reports that “in areas controlled by insurgent groups, ad hoc tribunals are judging and sentencing civilians to cruel and inhuman punishments, without proper due process, in violation of both Somali and international human rights law.”

They called on all parties to respect their obligations and to protect civilians, noting that “all parties in the conflict are bound to comply with the terms of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and of customary international humanitarian law, especially Common article 3 which prohibits violence to life and person -- in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.”

In Mogadishu, regular indiscriminate attacks in which heavy artillery, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and roadside bombs have been used, as well as targeted assassinations, have caused thousands of deaths and wounded, as well as destruction of property with whole neighborhoods razed to the ground.

The Independent Expert on Somalia, Shamsul Bari, also pointed to constant reports of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and female genital mutilation, as well as forced child marriages and the lack of educational opportunities for young girls and boys. “Sexual violence continues to rise, not only among the approximately 1.4 million people displaced inside the country, but in other parts of Somali society,” Bari said.

“It is also extremely sad, and deeply worrying for the country’s future, that only 10 percent of Somali children currently attend school.” Bari also noted that frequent reports are also coming in of violations of the freedom of religion, including the destruction of places of worship and cemeteries of Sufi Muslim groups.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims, including the two girls publicly executed in Beledweyne, and call on the international community to never let up on efforts to investigate these unacceptable crimes and prosecute the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law,” the six experts said.

ENDS

* The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Mr. Shamsul Bari; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr. Juan Mendez; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Christof Heyns; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Mr. Heiner Bielefeldt; the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Ms. Gabriela Knaul; and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo.

Learn more about the the Independent Expert on Somalia: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/so/mandate/index.htm
The Special Rapporteur on torture: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/torture/rapporteur/index.htm
The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/executions/index.htm
The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/religion/index.htm
Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/judiciary/index.htm
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/index.htm

 

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/africa/29somalia.html?src=twrhp

 

SOMALIA - ISLAMIC SHABAB KILL TWO GIRLS BRANDED SPIES

 

By Mohammed Ibrahim - October 28, 2010

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s most powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab, executed two teenage girls on Wednesday after deciding they were spies, setting off fears among residents, officials and witnesses said.

The two teenagers — one 18, the other 14 — were shot by firing squad in the center of the town of Beledweyne, near the border with Ethiopia, witnesses said.

Pickup trucks with big loudspeakers drove into the town, ordering the residents to watch the execution. Residents were also told to switch off their cellphones and were warned not to take pictures, a prohibition that has been enforced at some Islamist executions in the past.

“The teenage girls were executed in the regional headquarters at the center of the town. Some of the women who were watching fainted at the scene,” said Abukar Elmi, a witness. “This is a shocking event.”

The Shabab official in the town, Sheik Yusuf Ali Ugas, told local journalists that “the two girls were found guilty of spying for the Ethiopian government.”

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to oust an Islamist movement that had taken control of much of the country, including the capital, Mogadishu. Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers remained in Somalia for the next three years before withdrawing, and some of the Somali government forces fighting the Shabab in the Beledweyne area are supported by the Ethiopian government.

Mr. Ugas said the teenagers were not the only ones in Shabab custody, adding, “There are many people now in Shabab prisons in Beledweyne.”

He also sent a warning to Ethiopia, saying that the Shabab knew “all the informants serving for the Ethiopian government.”

Townspeople argued that the two teenage girls were innocent. The girls, they said, were traveling away from their families when they were caught in a cross-fire just outside Beledweyne, where both government forces and the Shabab are positioned. Many Somalis try to reach Yemen and Saudi Arabia to find better opportunities there and escape from the violence in this country.

“When the fighting started between the Shabab and the government forces just outside Beledweyne, the girls had to flee to the bush, where they were finally caught,” said a resident whose name was withheld for his safety. “I think they were executed because they were caught at the front line.”

The Somali transitional federal government strongly condemned the public execution, arguing that the two girls had not been given the right to a legal defense, nor had their parents even been informed.

“This execution is yet another human rights abuse committed by the criminals,” the Somali government said. “This act of killing innocent children does not have Islamic and humanitarian justifications.”

The Shabab have been responsible for many human rights violations in the areas they control. In 2008, for instance, they stoned to death a rape victim in the port town of Kismayo.