Somalia jails rape victim and journalist

MOGADISHU - Agence France-Presse

Somali journalist Abdiaziz Abdinuur Ibrahim (L) is pictured in court in Mogadishu on February 5, 2013. AFP Photo

Somalia jailed Feb. 5 for one year a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a journalist who interviewed her, saying they were guilty of insulting the state in a case that has alarmed rights groups.

“We sentence her for offending state institutions by claiming she was raped,” Judge Ahmed Adan told the court in the capital Mogadishu. “She will spend one year in prison after finishing the breast feeding of her baby,” freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinuur, 25, who is already in detention, was to begin serving his sentence immediately.

“The court finds that he offended state institutions by making a false interview, and entering the house of a woman whose husband was not present,” the judge added. Rights groups have condemned the case as “politically motivated”, and defense lawyers have said they will appeal against the decision.

Three other defendants, including the husband of the alleged victim, who helped introduce her to the journalist, were found not guilty and released.