Somali amputations and killings must stop, Amnesty
Mogadishu, 15 May-(ANA)-Amnesty International has called on the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia – and armed opposition and clan militias currently in control of Kismayo and other parts of the country – to publicly condemn all human rights abuses, including punishments carried out without due process of law.
The human rights organization called on all parties to the conflict to immediately stop all killings, amputations and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments throughout Somalia.
Local opposition leaders in Kismayo are believed to have been carrying out amputations and unlawful killings since2008, including the public killing of several men accused of murder.
In one incident on 22 April 2008, a man accused of murder was shot to death by a firing squad.
In October 2008, Amnesty International reported that 13-year-old Asho Ibrahim Duholow was publicly stoned to death by 50 men in front of a crowd of about 1,000 spectators in Kismayo. She had been accused of "adultery" by local al-Shabab militia and sentenced to death after she had reported to them that she was raped by three men.
“Such acts of brutality highlight the critical need for the UN and other international actors to take concrete steps to stop continued human rights abuses, including by establishing an independent commission of inquiry or similar mechanism to investigate human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict and bringing perpetrators to account,” said Michelle Kagari.(ANA)
