By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Al-Shabaab carried out a suicide attack on the court complex in the capital city on Sunday, and a bomb was detonated later on the airport road, leaving at least 30 people dead.
Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group, claimed the attacks. The attack on the court consisted of a suicide bombing followed by additional explosions, and several assailants stormed the court complex shooting live rounds. At least four legal professionals were killed, including a judge and three lawyers. Shortly afterward a car bomb detonated hitting several cars carrying Turkish aid workers on the airport road several kilometers from the court complex.
International humanitarian law, also called “the laws of armed conflict” is applicable in Somalia. As such, the courthouse was not a legal military target and the aid workers are protected civilians. These deliberate attacks, resulting in the death of civilians, are violations of the international humanitarian law. However, an al-Shabaab spokesman told the media that the court was a legitimate military target as they were ruling contrary to Sharia, or Islamic law.
The number of fatalities from the attacks has continued to rise. Medina Hospital, one of the Mogadishu’s main hospitals, told Human Rights Watch that it received at least 18 bodies and 4 people died at the hospital. International and Somali media reported that at least 30 people died and dozens were wounded.
Among the dead were a Somali journalist who had acted as the courts’ media adviser and two human rights lawyers. Respected attorneys Professor Mohamed Mohamud Afrah, the head of the Somali Lawyers Association, and Abdikarin Hassan Gorod were killed when al-Shabaab gunmen opened fire inside the court complex.
Afrah and Gorod had recently represented a woman who faced criminal charges after she accused government security forces of rape. They also represented a journalist who had interviewed the woman, and also faced charges in a politically motivated trial that received international attention. This woman was initially sentenced for “falsely accusing” government forces; however, the court of appeals eventually dropped all charges.
Al-Shabaab once controlled almost all of Mogadishu; however, African Union and Somali forces reclaimed the city in 2011. As such, Sunday’s events marks the deadliest Islamist militant attack in years for the city. President Hassan Sheik Mohamud, called the attack “nothing but a sign of desperation by the terrorists, who’ve lost all their strongholds and are in complete decline, right across Somalia.”
For more information, please see:
All Africa – Somalia: New Al-Shabaab Attacks are War Crimes – 16 April 2013
Human Rights Watch – Somalia: New Al-Shabaab Attacks are War Crimes – 16 April 2013
The Guardian – Tributes Paid to Somali Human Rights Lawyers Killed in al-Shabaab Attack – 15 April 2013
The New York Times – Coordinated Blasts Kill at Least 20 in Somalia’s Capital – 14 April 2013
