Story Denied About Lesbian Executions
The Washington
Blade, March 2, 2001
World Briefs
By Will O'Bryan
SOMALIA — Police in Puntland, an autonomous Somali
region that does not recognize the central government, have denied reports
that a Lesbian couple has been sentenced to death, according to the BBC.
Several international news services carried the story last week, first
printed in Mogadishus Qaran newspaper, that the two women had been convicted
of "exercising unnatural behavior."
According to the BBC, Qaran has printed an apology to its readers, and
Puntland police say no such case ever came before Puntland courts.
While governmental infrastructure throughout Somalia is scant, Puntland
does have a court system based loosely on Somali Criminal Punishment Law, a
loose interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The Belgium-based International Lesbian and Gay Association reports that
sexual relations between men are illegal under Somali Criminal Punishment Law,
although the law is more ambiguous about sex between women. The United States
does not maintain a diplomatic presence in Somalia, nor does Somalia operate
an embassy in the United States.
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