By Simba Tian
A 17-year-old girl in Somalia who converted from Islam to Christianity was the victim of what is believed to be an "honor killing" in late November, local sources have said.
Nurta Mohamed Farah, who had fled her village of Bardher in the Gedo region to live with relatives in the Galgadud region after her parents tortured her for leaving Islam, died on November 25. Local sources said they had the two unidentified men in the Galgadud region who shot her in the chest and head with a gun, strongly suspected of being family or acting on behalf of the family.
"The relatives in Galgadud received a report that Nurta Farah had converted to Christianity," said a source. "There is reasonable suspicion that the family is responsible. The girl was killed in Abudwaq, a district in the Galgadud region, and the place where the incident took place is about 200 meters from where she was staying with her relatives."
Relatives have buried Farah, according to the sources. Her parents had beaten her severely for leaving Islam and regularly chained her to a tree in their home, Christian sources said. She had been confined to her home in the Gedo region of southern Somalia since May 10, when her family found out she had converted to Christianity, said a Christian leader who visited the area (see www.compassdirect.org, "Family of 17-Year-Old Somali Girl Abuses Her for Leaving Islam," June 15).
Her parents also took her to a doctor who prescribed medication for a "mental illness," he said. Upset that she was unwavering in her faith, her father, Hassan Kafi Ilmi, and mother, Hawo Godane Haf, decided she had gone insane and forced her to take the prescribed medication, but it had no effect on her faith, the source said.
He added that many Somalis traditionally believe that the Quran cures the sick, especially the mentally ill, so the Quran was read to her twice a week.
She had refused her family's offer of forgiveness in exchange for renouncing her Christian faith, the source said. The confinement began after the medication and punishments were ineffective. Christians in the area had reported that Farah was chained to a tree during the day and put in a small, dark room at night.
According to the US State Department's 2010 report on international religious freedom, Somalia's Transitional National Government generally did not enforce religious freedom protections contained in the Transitional Charter. "Non-Muslims who practiced their religion openly were sometimes victims of harassment by society," the report pointed out. "It was considered socially unacceptable to convert from Islam to another religion. Those suspected of having converted faced harassment and even death at the hands of their communities."
Source: Compass Direct News
