NAIROBI: British charity Save the Children has urged the Somali government to intervene after a military court sentenced four teenage boys to death over their involvement with armed groups.
Authorities in the north-central city of Galkayo arrested six teenagers in October 2020 and a military court last month sentenced four of the boys — now aged between 16 and 18 — to death, while the remaining two were sentenced to 30 and 20 years in jail, the group said.
“We are deeply concerned at these sentences. Sentencing adolescents to death and long-term imprisonment — regardless of their crime — does not work as a deterrent, and certainly isn’t in line with global standards,” Mohammed Mohamed Hassan, the charity’s country director for Somalia, said in a statement.
“The experience of being associated with an armed force or group can have an immediate and lasting impact and consequences for boys and girls, including exploitation and abuse, physical injury or disability. They must be protected, not punished,” he added.
“These boys deserve a chance at rehabilitation, and we urge the government to ensure justice.”
The charity said the court’s decision violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Somalia ratified in 2015.
Although Somalia has been known to carry out executions of adult prisoners, no details were available on the executions of juvenile offenders.
Save the Children did not give details about the armed groups in the case of the teenagers.
Save the Children urges Somalia to protect teens from execution
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Save the Children urges Somalia to protect teens from execution
Helicopter crashes in Libya during medical evacuation, killing 3
- The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash
TRIPOLI: A helicopter has crashed in southeastern Libya, killing a medic and two crew members carrying out a medical evacuation, state media said Tuesday.
Libyan news agency LANA said the chopper went down overnight near an air base in the Kufra region about 60 kilometers north of the border between Libya and Chad.
The aircraft was attempting to evacuate a soldier who had been involved in a road accident in the desert, LANA said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known and it was unclear what happened to the injured soldier.
Libyan media reports said two foreign nationals were among those on board who were killed, but this was not confirmed by authorities.
The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash.
Libya remains split between the eastern administration and a UN-backed government in the west led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah. The LANA news agency is under the control of western authorities.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted following a 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
