Althouse: "Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region passed the country’s first law criminalising offences such as sexual harassment and rape in 2016."

February 14, 2020

"Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region passed the country’s first law criminalising offences such as sexual harassment and rape in 2016."

"Rape victims in the east African nation are stigmatised and forced to marry assailants. Convictions under the law are rare, as police are either unaware of the law or do not see violence against women as a serious crime, say women’s rights campaigners."

From "STRAIGHT TO HELL/Two paedos who gang-raped and killed a 12-year-old girl are executed by firing squad in Somalia" (The Sun).

35 comments:

rehajm said...: Who knew Somalia has police?; 2/14/20, 4:13 PM
Leland said...: Convictions may be rare, but I'd say they take them seriously. Then again, I suspect they were shot for killing the girl, and I hope for such a serious sentence that there was solid evidence that withstood scrutiny.; 2/14/20, 4:14 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: There's a lot to be said for the spectacle of public execution. It brings the community together - literally - and it provides graphic reminder of putting paid to the wages of sin.; 2/14/20, 4:16 PM
Inga said...: Good, way past time. Maybe they will set an example for other countries that devalue women and children...but I doubt it.; 2/14/20, 4:17 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: So what is the thought process behind making the victim of rape marry their assailant? Is it some convoluted idea that if they marry after the fact then what happened before wasn't really rape but merely pre-marital sex and therefore they are preventing a bad thing? I mean the concept of "shotgun weddings" exist in many cultures including ours, or at least in the past of ours, but that really is dealing with consensual pre-marital sex, and seen as a way to preserve the honor and virtue of the young woman.; 2/14/20, 4:20 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Well, it's a start. Maybe.; 2/14/20, 4:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: When the rape victim is dead, you cannot hope to transform the crime through requiring her to marry her rapist.; 2/14/20, 4:26 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Is it some convoluted idea that if they marry after the fact then what happened before wasn't really rape but merely pre-marital sex and therefore they are preventing a bad thing?"

I think the idea has more to do with regarding the woman as spoiled for marriage and imposing responsibility for her on the man who ruined her. It's not about what she wanted at the time or what she wants now. It does not see the woman as a human being, but as something that needs to be enclosed within marriage. It's like the "you broke it, you bought it" theory in a retail shop.; 2/14/20, 4:30 PM
etbass said...: "When the rape victim is dead, you cannot hope to transform the crime through requiring her to marry her rapist."

Likewise, when the rapist is dead...; 2/14/20, 4:30 PM
Josephbleau said...: “So what is the thought process behind making the victim of rape marry their assailant? “

This has strong legal precedent back to Ogg the Cave Man vs Girl. And the Sabine Women ex parte.; 2/14/20, 4:43 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Pedophile rape gangs go unpunished in the United Kingdom. So +1 for Somalia.; 2/14/20, 4:57 PM
Wince said...: "Rape victims in the east African nation are stigmatised and forced to marry assailants. Convictions under the law are rare, as police are either unaware of the law or do not see violence against women as a serious crime, say women’s rights campaigners."

Just don't call it a "shit-hole", ladies.; 2/14/20, 4:58 PM
traditionalguy said...: But guys this is a Christian culture idea that men and women are equal.The Muslims culture men are dedicated to enslaving all women animals and beating them for talking back or disobedience. Which is why England applies no English rape law to them.; 2/14/20, 5:09 PM
Mark said...: It might be illegal in Britain for the Sun to report this bit of useful information, but Puntland, as with the rest of Somalia, is entirely Muslim.

And, of course, historically in Islamic countries, rape has not been seen as that big of a deal. Hence the lateness of the law.; 2/14/20, 5:09 PM
Mark said...: In fact, in many Islamic countries, rape victims can be prosecuted/stoned for committing adultery.; 2/14/20, 5:11 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Somalia is definitely one of the shithole countries. But are you judging their cultural practices by our Western imperialist standards? How dare you!; 2/14/20, 5:21 PM
etbass said...: And we want unlimited entry of these kind of people into our country because Diversity, Diversity. They will not assimilate into our culture; they want us to adopt theirs.; 2/14/20, 5:23 PM
Big Mike said...: Ammunition for an AK-47, even when bought in bulk, costs 40 to 45 cents per round. Hemp ropes are reusable. Just sayin’; 2/14/20, 5:29 PM
Ken B said...: I liked the pro-forma “of course we oppose the death penalty” before the predictable “but”. Even in Somalia these groups are prefectly predictable.; 2/14/20, 6:05 PM
Ken B said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/14/20, 6:09 PM
gilbar said...: it's IN The Bible, folks...
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
"If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days.; 2/14/20, 6:35 PM
Jupiter said...: "I think the idea has more to do with regarding the woman as spoiled for marriage and imposing responsibility for her on the man who ruined her. It's not about what she wanted at the time or what she wants now. It does not see the woman as a human being, but as something that needs to be enclosed within marriage. It's like the "you broke it, you bought it" theory in a retail shop."

I don't see why arranging for an otherwise unmarriageable woman to be married is incompatible with regarding her as a human being. Although I suspect that the issue is more a matter of her family's honor than her desires. Also wondering how this fits in with the rather lax approach to divorce in Islamic shitholes.; 2/14/20, 6:39 PM
Jupiter said...: Inga said...
"Good, way past time. Maybe they will set an example for other countries that devalue women and children...but I doubt it."

So now we know what it takes for me and Igna to find common ground. Do you still want to import a couple million of their cousins, Igna?; 2/14/20, 6:41 PM
Mark said...: Yeah gilbar, as said before -- they're Muslim. So Deuteronomy is rather irrelevant.; 2/14/20, 6:43 PM
Two-eyed Jack said...: Honor means preserving the right to be treated with respect. For the family of the girl, marriage regularizes the situation and shows that you are strong enough, as a family or clan, to force this regularization. The alternatives for the strong are revenge or vendetta. The alternatives for the weak are humiliation, or the expulsion (or killing) of the girl. The girls desires are generally not the determinative factor. Understanding this is important in a multicultural society.; 2/14/20, 6:45 PM
Mark said...: This was a death foretold. A Toyota pickup with a loudspeaker began an early-morning tour of the ruined neighbourhoods of Kismayo, a port in southern Somalia, announcing that there would be a killing. By 4pm a crowd of 1,000 people had gathered at the football stadium. A hole had been dug in the ground, and half an hour later a truck loaded with rocks arrived.

A group of fighters from the Al-Shabab militia who control the city appeared, firing warning shots into the air to disperse a crush of people trying to reach the stones.

A young girl was dragged into the stadium. She knew what was going to happen next, and witnesses saw her struggling and screaming. . . .

But four men forced her into the hole and buried her up to her neck. Fifty men then set about stoning her to death. After 10 minutes she was dug up and two nurses checked to see if she was alive. She was. So they put her back in the ground and the stoning recommenced.

Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow's crime was to be raped and then report it. After being attacked by three men her family went to the Al-Shabab Islamist militia to report the crime. She was detained and accused of adultery. No effort was made to identify or arrest the rapists.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/dont-kill-me-she-screamed-then-they-stoned-her-to-death-1003462.html; 2/14/20, 7:01 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm guessing Hillary won't take the blind fold.

Nah.....I'm kidding.; 2/14/20, 8:12 PM
Narr said...: How do we know the bitch didn't set them up? If they'd do it to Mayor Marion Barry (raised in my home town) who wouldn't they do it to?

Narr
I'll grunt, to be blunt, "Who bears the brunt of cunt stunt in Punt?"; 2/14/20, 9:53 PM
Big Mike said...: Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are doing their best to turn blue parts of the US into Somalia. Red parts will resist.; 2/14/20, 10:24 PM
Big Mike said...: @Mark, no sense trying to get sympathy out of Althouse and other 21st century US feminists. They’ve got theirs, too bad for women in Muslim countries. Helping out their Muslim sisters would be a bit too much like work. Easier to fuss over microaggressions and the Patriarchy. And toxic masculinity.

But a couple toxically masculine American Marines with M4s might have saved that girl and educated the local Muslim men that this is the 21st century, not the 12th.; 2/14/20, 10:31 PM
Lance said...: Somalia is the Republican dream. Pure capitalism, beautiful coastline, if you want a gun you just need to go and dig one up from the ground, culturally homogenous, you can pray anywhere and it’s encouraged, no homosexuals, women know their place, zero immigration, and no socialized medicine. If you don’t like the results of the election you just grab your gun and join Al-Shabaab.; 2/14/20, 11:35 PM
Lance said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/14/20, 11:47 PM
Lance said...: The idea of forcing the rapist to marry the victim is not trying to forgive the crime and make it marriage rather all crime in Somalia is looked at more in line with the Code of Hammurabi, an eye for an eye. So if a member of one clan kills a member of another clan, the clan elders decide what is owed for the loss of their guy. The elders will talk between each other and they will say, the man that was killed was very valuable to us, he was a doctor and to compensate us you will have to give us 100 cattle. The other clan will then pay that amount or they will give the murderer to the other clan so that they can have justice and kill him. With rape the elders will generally decide that the punishment be that the woman who was raped must now be cared for by someone in the other clan, sub clan, family, or the rapist himself. The justice system in Somalia is very much based on clan elders and compensation. Either a financial cost is paid to the victims group, or the victim can take their proportional vengeance against the perpetrator.; 2/15/20, 12:02 AM
Nichevo said...: Somalia is the Republican dream.

Wonderfully valuable remarks. Almost as if you had said that Somalia is the Democrat dream because it is run by Negroes.; 2/15/20, 8:53 AM
Lance said...: @Nichevo

Get a sense of humor and stop being a sensitive snowflake.; 2/16/20, 2:53 AM