The speed at which Hodan Mohamud Diiriye was executed has raised questions about the fairness of her trial
O
n 12 November last year, Hodan Mohamud Diiriye called her husband to tell him that his 14-year-old great niece, Saabirin Saylaan, who had been living in their house for two months, was unconscious. Together, they took Saabirin to the hospital in Galkayo, in central Somalia, where medical staff pronounced her dead and called the police.
Diiriye, a 34-year-old mother of more than 10 children, was arrested. Less than three months later, on 3 February, she was executed by a firing squad for murder.
The case caused outrage in a country where child abuse often goes unreported. The execution of Diiriye marked one of the rare instances in Somalia where a court handed down the death penalty to a woman, and for child abuse.
