Comments on: She Asked For It? Another Woman Stoned to Death Under Sharia Law in Somalia

By: laura eddy

laura eddy — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:58:25 +0000

Shame on you all

By: Sidony

Sidony — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:05:05 +0000

Anyone who would stone someone to death is absolutely evil. If their religion tells them to do so, then their religion is absolute evil. All those spectators should be kept in cages forever like the animals that they are. May that poor girl rest in peace.

And whatever they said about her “asking for it” (death in that manner) is absolute bullshit. And everyone knows it.

By: B

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:15:53 +0000

It depends what sect of Islam…the Wahhabis…and the Khumeinists…and some of the Islamic states…do kill rape victims…sometimes rapists get no punishment or get lashed. It is disgusting.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:55:36 +0000

Poor child; the only good thing to come out of this is that she is now resting in heaven with our Lord and no longer amongst these animals.
A child of 13 years would not be able to understand the gravity of the situation, firstly having been raped.
I do not know of any religion that would encourage this, let alone Islam. These men have not only murdered a child that needed protecting, but they have shamed their religion. Islam does not condone this kind of behaviour.

By: Em

Em — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:56:20 +0000

I don’t know if anyone’s already said it, but Aisho, the “woman,” was 13 years old–a child!

By: Mike Spindell

Mike Spindell — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:09:09 +0000

Funny, but the Muslim and the Arab people I know speak and write English very well. Could it be that some ignorant racists have visited this site in an extremely dumb attempt at racist humor? What do you think mohamed, amdi & usama?

By: mohamed

mohamed — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:44:32 +0000

all hamdulihi rabi alamin afwan
islamic court they doing good thing
becouse of the holly quran said
if she doing like that she wiil death stone like that

i hope islamic thre doing like that
afkhanistan yemen saudi arabia iraq
all muslim countries by youn al shabab

By: usama

usama — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:35:33 +0000

it is good girl
i hope 4 good paradice
becouse of she said true

By: xanthippa

xanthippa — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:54:24 +0000

This is SO terrible!!!

Yet, I do think that there was an ‘honest’ (if you can use that word in a case like this) misunderstanding.

Aisha’s home town had only JUST come under the control of the extremist Islamists. I truly and honestly believe that when she went to the authorities and ‘asked for justice’ to be done, she understood this ‘justice’ meant her rapists would be caught, tried and punished.

Yet, I also think that the Islamist Hayakallah did NOT understand that at all. To him, Aisha was admitting ‘sex outside of marriage’ and asking for ‘justice’ – which meant stoning!

I am in NO WAY attempting to excuse what Hayakallah did!

To the contrary: I am condemning him even more because he did not even realize that his bigoted, narrow view was not the only TRUTH.

When ‘the court’ asked Aisha to ‘reconsider her testimony’ – I think they were trying to (in thier very limited minds) to ‘give her an out’ – to recant and walk away. But she either did not understand this (and nor did much of her community, as evidnced by them trying to rush the executioners to free her – the point they got fired into, a child being shot to death), or thought that by insisting on ‘justice’ the ‘court’ would be forced to deal with her attackers.

In a way, she was victimized twice: once by the oppressive interpretation of Sharia by the Islamist Hayakallah and his ‘court’ and once by the gulf of misunderstanding of what ‘justice’ actually means between most of us on the one hand and the radicals who judged her on the other.

By: whitepower

whitepower — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:48:48 +0000

that girl had it coming

By: Islamic Court in Somalia Stone to Death 13-Year-Old Rape Victim for Adultery « JONATHAN TURLEY

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:05:57 +0000

[...] adultery in Somalia was disturbing enough, particularly after the local cleric said that Duhulow asked for the stoning. Now, Amnesty International has reported that Duholow was not 23, as claimed, but only 13 years old [...]

By: Mike Spindell

Mike Spindell — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:06:47 +0000

David,
Never mind. Sometimes I find myself to be as pompous an ass as I would decry in others.

By: rafflaw

rafflaw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:42:22 +0000

Mike and David,
I agree with you both that religious extremism leads to repression. I was not aware of the Dominionist. Quite scary. The far Religious Right has some Taliban look-a-likes that would love it if we lived under religous law.

By: david

david — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:21:45 +0000

Mike,
You read more in to my post than it asserts. I by no means claimed that logic, science, and reason are sufficient conditions to prevent injustice. My sole assertion was that rejecting faith, belief not grounded in evidence, as a virtue is a necessary condition to ending religious extremism.

By: Mike Spindell

Mike Spindell — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:10:59 +0000

Mespo,
I agree. I believe that fundamentalism in any context will produce repression

David,
I wish I shared your positive view of science and logic. I think the history shows that even when it comes to science and/or logic it still becomes a matter of “whose ox is being gored.” Logicians, philosophers and scientists spend years of their careers supporting particular beliefs and then become quite hostile to someone new to the scene whose theories disprove, or discount their own pet beliefs.
The problem I fear is that all of us humans are able to rationalize illogic in the service of our own ego’s. While I’m more predisposed to the scientific method, against any inroad of religious belief into governance, I’d be blind not to realize that science itself occasionally commits injustice while being blinded by individual ego and an inability to be open to new ideas.

By: david

david — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:55:20 +0000

It is not just the fundamentalist world that contributes to this extremist brutality. Teaching that faith is a virtue in any context fosters an environment in which extremism will inevitably thrive. When you teach a child to believe in something that is untestable and absent any supporting evidence, their mind is vulnerable to the extreme and absurd. A mind that is encouraged to use logic and reason, that is trained to question and explore, will not be open to extreme religious doctrine. Not until we demand that all in society make decisions based on reason, evidence, and science will we purge the world of religious extremism. As Bertrand Russell stated, “When you teach some to believe absurdities, you can convince them to commit atrocities.”

By: Wednesday Reading « Sua Sponte

Wednesday Reading « Sua Sponte — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:46:22 +0000

[...] Prof. Turley looks at a Somali woman who was stoned to death for adultery – and asked for it. [...]

By: mespo727272

mespo727272 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:22:13 +0000

Welcome to the fundamentalist world. Lest you think we don’t have these elements here checkout the Dominionists Christian sect who wield considerable power among the Republican base.

http://www.publiceye.org/christian_right/dominionism.htm

By: rafflaw

rafflaw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:06:29 +0000

This is such a sad case. Whenever you mix religion with a civil justice system, this is the horrible result that you often get. Can a man be “convicted” of adultery under Sharia Law? Is it my imagination or do we mainly see women as defendants in front of these Sharia courts? I seriously doubt that any sane woman would ask to be sentenced knowing that she would be stoned to death!