Date: 18 November 2009
Source: BBC News
A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of 200 people near the town of Wajid, 400km north-west of Mogadishu. A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man. Under al-Shabab's interpretation of Sharia law, anyone who has ever been married - even a divorcee - who has an affair is liable to be found guilty of adultery, punishable by stoning to death. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes - the punishment for an unmarried person who has sex before marriage. It is thought to be the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab. A girl was stoned to death for adultery in the southern town of Kismayo in 2008. Human rights groups said she was 13 years old and had been raped, but the Islamists said she was older and had been married. The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis.
