Defending my wife

After more than ten years working in the Horn of Africa region with women, from Darfur in Sudan to the coast of Somalia, the braveness of Muhildeen Shikh Mohamed an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Somali man living in Mogadishu took me by surprise.

On 5 February 2013, 27 year old IDP woman Lul Ali Isman, was ganged raped by the government security forces and Lul was brave enough to come out and share her story publically. The journalist Abdiaziz Ibrahim conducted an interview with her and before publishing the interview; both Lul and Abdiaziz were convicted by a Somali court and sentenced to a year in jail. Mrs Isman was accused of insulting a government body and making false claims while the journalist was similarly charged with insulting a government body. The two were arrested in mid January 2013. The rape survivor was subjected to two days of interrogation without a lawyer present. Following an international outcry, on 3 March 2013, the charges against Mrs Isman were dropped, and the sentence against the journalist reduced to six months. By the 17 March 2013 the charges against Abdiaziz were dropped and he was released.

PRAISE FOR MUHILDEEN IN MYSOGYNISTIC SOMALIA

However, despite all the international coverage the case received, there was no mention of Muhildeen Shikh Mohamed, Lul’s husband. After doggedly maintaining that his wife had been raped he too was arrested and intimidated during the 26 days he was held. In his own account, this is something Muhildeen would do again. For me, as an activist seeking social change for years, the stand of Muhildeen cannot go unnoticed. When I sat to talk to him in Mogadishu last March I felt nothing but great appreciation for the man whose life was never easy, yet he did not loose his sense of justice despite the power of misogyny in Somalia. Muhildeen by all means was not confused about his wife situation, fully aware of what she suffers; ‘Just defending my wife’ this what he kept saying. Muhildeen told me that during his detention he was humiliated for reporting his wife rape. He was also reminded that his wife was from a lower clan and not worth for him to defend.

MORE MEN NEED TO STAND UP AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Muhildeen is just one of the many men choosing to stand by their wives, daughters mothers or sisters in Somalia. In another instance, a man refused to receive money and insisted on filing a case against the perpetrator who had raped his 13 years old daughter despite all the threats he was receiving. Another man was detained for a week for reporting the rape of his 6 years old daughter and refusing to drop the charges.[1] The issue of sexual violence is a shared burden between men and women. The systematic rape of women and girls faced with undermining trends and impunity leaves great societal repercussions. It distresses communities and takes away society’s capacity to exist peacefully.

For the past 20 years, Somalis have suffered the ramifications of the long-lasting armed conflicts with the spreading of the militant political Islam militia presenting itself as an identity and saver of Somali people. The dehumanization of women combined with the polarization of war resulted in establishing systemic patterns of gang rape against women and young girls particularly inside IDPs camps where women and families are exposed. Just in the span of three days from 16-18 March 2013 twenty-two rape cases were reported from one camp in just one of the districts in Mogadishu.

STANDING UP FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE FOR ALL

Sexual violence in the Horn of Africa region is shaded with misconceptions and confused with culture, traditions and religion. It is perceived to imply that people of the Horn are born into adopting violence against women as their heritage. Culture, clan and religion are part of the Somali people’s identity but these should not be the only lenses to view them. The paradox however is that, the only operating ideology that presents itself is militant political Islam. Yet what should be noted is that justice, peace and human rights as perceived internationally is a great desire for large segments of Somali men and women living inside the country.

ENDNOTES

1. Reports from one of the local women organization in Somalia.
2. Interview with one of the local women’s organisations in Somalia.

*Hala Alkarib, is Director of the Strategic Initiative for women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA)

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