Somali ‘Lesbian Sentences’ Denied
BBC, February 23, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1183000/1183937.stm
Police in Puntland have denied a story widely reported in Somalia that two
women were sentenced to death for being Lesbians.
According to Mogadishu newspapers, the women were reported to have been
found guilty of "exercising unnatural behaviour" by having a lesbian
relationship.
But police in Boosaaso, where the sentence was reported to have been
passed, say the case never came before the courts.
The Qaran newspaper in Mogadishu has now printed an apology to their
readers.
It had been reported that hundreds had packed the court in the northern
coastal town.
But no official confirmation was ever received from the Puntland
authorities.
Puntland declared itself autonomous from Somalia in August 1998 and has
since set up its own administrative infrastructure.
Somalia’s first government in nearly a decade was appointed last year,
but the authorities in Puntland are opposed to it.
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