A Mogadishu court has sentenced an alleged rape victim and a Somali journalist who interviewed her to one year in prison each, court officials say. Tuesday’s ruling was based on medical evidence that showed the woman was not raped, they said. Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, the freelance journalist, and the 27-year old unidentified woman who claimed to have been raped by security forces, faced charges including insulting a government body, making false accusations and seeking to profit from the allegations.
Ibrahim, who has been under detention since January 10, will begin serving his sentence immediately.
The woman is to begin her sentence after nursing her baby.“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,” said Judge Ahmed Adan. The journalist’s arrest followed increasing media attention on reported sexual abuse by Somalia security forces. Earlier in January, Universal TV – a local television station – and Al Jazeera’s website separately published stories about allegations of rape in the city’s crowded camps for displaced people.
Ibrahim had not been involved with either story, does not work for either organisation, and had not published anything of his own investigation before he was detained.
