The attack on the court consisted of a suicide bombing followed by
additional explosions, and several assailants stormed the court complex
shooting live rounds. Shortly afterward a car bomb detonated hitting
several cars carrying Turkish aid workers on the airport road several
kilometers from the court complex. An al-Shabaab spokesman who claimed
responsibility for the attacks told the media that the court was a
legitimate military target as they were ruling contrary to Sharia, or
Islamic law.
“Al-Shabaab’s attacks on a courthouse and aid workers’ convoy show utter disregard for civilian life,” said
Leslie Lefkow,
deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The laws of war protect
all civilians and civilian buildings from attack, and courthouses are no
exception.”
The laws of war, which are applicable in
Somalia,
protect civilians and civilian objects from deliberate attack.
Government buildings, such as courthouses, that are not being used for
military purposes are protected civilian objects. Aid workers are also
protected as civilians. People who order or commit deliberate attacks on
civilians or civilian objects are responsible for war crimes, Human
Rights Watch said.
The number of fatalities from the attacks has continued to rise. Medina
Hospital, one of the city’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 those killed when the assailants opened fire inside the court
complex were respected lawyers Professor Mohamed Mohamud Afrah, the head
of the Somali Lawyers Association, and Abdikarin Hassan Gorod. Afrah
and Gorod had recently represented a woman who faced criminal charges
after she alleged that she had been raped by government forces. They
also represented a journalist who had interviewed the woman, and also
faced charges in a
politically motivated trial
that received international attention. During the trial, court
officials threatened to withdraw Afrah’s law license, though these
threats never materialized.
“Throughout the high-profile trial, Afrah and Gorod showed the utmost
commitment to defending their clients, despite the serious personal
risks involved,” Lefkow said. “Their deaths are a tragedy for their
families, colleagues, and for all Somali victims of abuse who are often
unable to afford legal help.”
A regional court judge, another lawyer, a judicial media advisor, and court security guards were also among the dead.
While al-Shabaab withdrew from much of Mogadishu in August 2011, it has
continued to conduct deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against
civilians. In 2012 it carried out several high-profile suicide bombings,
including one at a popular restaurant on September 20 that killed at
least 18 people, three of them journalists. Outside of the capital large
areas of south-central Somalia remain under control of al-Shabaab,
which imposes harsh restrictions on basic rights and administers
arbitrary justice against the population of these areas.
The April 14 attack is not the first targeting justice officials.
According to the United Nations, at least nine judges and prosecutors
have been killed in south-central Somalia since 2007. The attacks came a
week after a government-sponsored judicial reform conference in
Mogadishu that was part of groundwork for the May 7 London donors’
conference for Somalia. Ensuring the safety of Somali legal
professionals, including judges and lawyers, should be an important part
of the judicial reform agenda, Human Rights Watch said.
“The current focus on judicial reform in Somalia is critical,” Lefkow
said. “Crucial to these reforms is ensuring that judges and lawyers have
the protection they require to do their jobs.”
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