Hiiraan Online
Monday, January 04, 2016
HARGEISA (HOL) – A court in the breakaway northern Somalia region of Somaliland has sentenced ten men to 15 years in jail for the gang rape of two women near Djibouti’s border last year.
Sexual assault cases are uncommon in Somaliland, however, the region has seen an outbreak of gang rapes in 2013 and has surprised local residents who blame gangs of young men.
The women who traveled from Hargeisa have reportedly sought the men’s help and guidance to cross the border into Djibouti.
The magistrate court in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital has also slapped the men with fines; warning that failure to pay up the fine money would lengthen their jail terms.
During the court’s hearing Monday, the judge has also accused the defendants of initiating ‘terrible’ offenses within the community, an action he said ‘deserves’ bigger punishments.
Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, however, its attempts to gain an international recognition hasn't so far
accomplished success.