Somalia jails rape victim, journalist for 1 year

Somalia on Tuesday jailed 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. “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 breastfeeding of her baby.”

Freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinuur, 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”.