Remember the Somali woman who was sentenced to a year in prison for falsely accusing rape? In case you don’t, I’ll remind you that her conviction rested on the unreliable and misogynist two-finger test, and that a journalist who had interviewed her but never published a story was also sentenced to a year in prison.
The judge said that journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim had disrespected the country’s law, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a Sunday statement, noting that it was unclear exactly what law he broke. His one-year sentence was cut to six months.
“The court acquitted a woman who should never have been charged while upholding an unjust conviction of a journalist,” said Daniel Bekele, the group’s Africa director. “After this case, who in their right mind would suggest to a victim of government abuse that they report the crime? Or tell their story to a journalist?”
You know the saddest part of this story? That it’s now considered a win if neither of these people go to prison, when the authorities should be looking for a rapist.