WOMAN STONED IN SOUTHERN SOMALIA

October 27, 2008: thousands of people gathered to witness 50 Somali men stone a woman to death after an Islamic court in the southern port of Kismayo found her guilty of adultery, witnesses said.
Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was found guilty of extra-marital intercourse and was buried in the ground up to her neck while the men pelted her head with rocks.
"Our sister Aisha asked the Islamic Sharia court in Kismayo to be charged and punished for the crime she committed," local Islamist leader Sheikh Hayakallah told the crowd. "She admitted in front of the court to engaging in adulterous sexual intercourse." "She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply."
The execution was carried in one of the city's main squares.
"This afternoon we are telling the people of Kismayo that we are practising a punishment that is rare in this region and was carried out in Kismayo for the first time," Sheikh Hayakallah said.
Cameras were banned from the public stoning but print and radio journalists were allowed to attend. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 28/10/2008)