The Other McCain

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Cell-Phone Pornography Blamed in Rape Attacks on Somali Refugee Women

Posted on | December 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

Associated Press:

The three masked gunmen burst into Asha Muse Ali’s tent at night and grabbed every item of value they could find: $85 in cash, a cell phone and a gold ring.
Then the attackers embarked on a crime that carries a severe social stigma in this conservative Muslim country: They raped Ali and her aunt.
Ali and her family are among almost 60 000 internally displaced people in the central Somali town of Galkayo, where hundreds of families have sought refuge from violence in Mogadishu and in south-central Somalia. But once there, the women risk being raped.
Aid workers say the number of rapes are alarming and that in some cases, they are fuelled by young men watching pornographic videos. . . .
Some camp residents and aid workers blamed some of the sexual assaults on a new prevalence of pornography, which can even be seen on cell phones. The top official in Somalia for the UN refugee agency said he has received reports that youths “first heat up themselves before they go out and hunt down women”.
“It is appaling that the women in the camps are raped by youth gangs with total impunity after watching pornographic films,” Bruno Geddo said.

(Hat-tip: Pepper_10 on Twitter.)

Category: Crime, Somalia

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