Mercy's failed existence

I have decided to take today as a break from U.S. politics and policies. It is a vacation of sorts. I realize that the race to the Presidency is coming to a close, but it has been almost two years of politicking and I am just a little exhausted. Now, please do not believe that all of a sudden that I am going to stop blogging about politics, you have no such luck. But, today, I decided to start a series on atrocities committed against women and focus on being a humanist and a Christian, not necessarily in that order.

Recently, a woman accused of adultery was stoned to death in Kismayo, Somalia. However, this story is not about some married adult female who sneaked around with some man behind her husband’s back. This is the story of a child, a girl named Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow of Somalia. Initial news reports had her age as 23; however, her father states that she was 13 years old. On October 27, 2008, she was stoned to death in an arena in front of an audience. After being buried up to her neck, a black sack was placed over her head and she was murdered while some 1,000 onlookers viewed the spectacle. As I wrote earlier, she stood accused of adultery; however, it was a non-consensual type of adultery. This is some sort of new adultery that I have never heard of before since adultery is consensual. Without consent, anything that involves sexual contact, sexual conduct or sexual congress between two or more people is RAPE. Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was raped by three men and when she went to the authorities to report the crime that was committed against her, she was charged with having sex with someone who was not her husband.

Somalia’s government has been in turmoil since 1991 when the country’s dictator, Mohammed Siad Barre was removed from power. Recently, in Somalia and other Islamic countries, there has been resurgence in Shariah law, which from my understanding is based upon ancient Islamic principles. It would seem that any sexual congress outside the confines of marriage would implicate the crime of adultery, whether consensual or not. I am not a follower of Islam, so I cannot speak to the application of the law in this instance, however, I am a lawyer and a Christian who being possessed of some amount of common sense and reason, must beg the following question: where are the men who committed this crime against (or depending on who you ask - with) this woman? It is nigh impossible to commit adultery by oneself.

I have searched the wires, news reports and Arabic papers; however, I have failed to come up with any information about the persons with which she committed adultery. It would seem that reports of their deaths are missing. No articles about three men being stoned or hung or sentenced to death firing squad, poisoned or electrocuted I could write that this is sexism and it would be true, however, there is something more at work here. Somalia is a country that has been in a war for at least 17 years and while various organizations seek peace, it would seem that no one looked here, perhaps because this is Africa. (Ok, I was about to willing and happily JUMP into the rabbit hole by ranting about America’s failure to help certain countries in the midst of civil war. I always wonder why is it that America can rush to aid any of the former Russian states or any oil rich country, but never to Eritrea, Uganda, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ivory Coast or any of the other African nations. What is the difference between the people of these countries? What could it be? But, I digress.)

It always amazes me when something seems familiar, but this scene has been played out before and is well-documented. The woman I am about to write about received mercy instead of what could be termed, loosely, as justice. In the writings of St. John, Chapter 8, the scribes and Pharisees brought out a woman accused of adultery and took her to Jesus. They said that under the laws of Moses, she should be stoned and asked Him his take on this. Jesus knelt down and started writing in the dirt. The asked and asked and finally Jesus answered by saying he who is without, cast the first stone. The oldest people left first and when the woman opened her eyes, the people were gone. For 13 year old Aisha, her accusers remained and even though they were equally guilty, she received no mercy…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/01/amnesty.rape.somalia.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=abC9J8.cM6mU&refer=africa