Hannah Menchu - Somalia Court Reduces Journalist's Sentence

Somalia Court Reduces Journalist's Sentence  And Frees Rape Victim

A Somali court has reduced the sentence of a journalist who interviewed a rape victim and freed the victim who had been sentenced to one year in prison for alleging sexual assault.  

The woman had been charged and sentenced for insulting a government body, making false accusations, and seeking to profit from the allegations.  The appeals court set her free.  

But the reporter that interviewed her is not so lucky.  He was charged and sentenced for "making a false interview, and entering the house of a woman whose husband was not present".  The appeals court reduced his sentence to six months in jail because they found he tricked the woman into an interview.  He had been researching sexual violence in Somalia, but did not air or print any reports after interviewing the woman.  

"This is completely insane and unjust," said Mohammed Ibrahim, from Somalia's national journalists' union.  I agree that this is insane.  Somalia detained 56 journalists last year.

This is the journalist, Abdiaziz Abdinuur Ibrahim.

 

 

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/201333104237354420.html