Convicted rapists of 12-year-old girl in Galkaayo to be executed next month

Three men who were sentenced to death for the brutal rape and murder of a 12-year-old in Galkaayo last May will face the firing squad next month, Puntland government said Sunday.

The state attorney general Mohamud Hassan told the media Sunday the three- Abdifitah Abdirahman Warsame, Abdishakur Mohamed Dige, and Abdisalan Abdirahman Warsame will be executed February 11 following the completion of the legal process.

The court found the three guilty of gang rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl identified as Aisha Ilyas Adan February last year.

There was public uproar with calls on the authorities in Puntland swiftly arrest and prosecute the offenders. Somalis pushed the message further online making a global protest under the hashtag #JusticeForAisha.

The trio was arrested and sentenced to death three months later in May to death for what autopsy results indicated was gang rape, mutilation and strangling of the 12-year-old.

The sentencing of the trio was hailed as a milestone in protection of victims of sexual offenses in the country. Puntland passed a Sexual Offenses Law in 2016 which criminalizes rape.

 A court in Garowe also sentenced five men in February to death for the gang rape and murder of a 16 old girl in Galkaayo.