"Amnesty International condemns this gruesome and horrific act of stoning,” said Paule Rigaud, deputy director for Africa. “This killing is yet another human rights abuse committed by the combatants who control the north of Mali, and illustrates the climate of fear that armed opposition groups have created within the areas they control."
Amnesty International has documented incidences of abuses carried out by armed groups in Mali in an attempt to change behavior in accordance with a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
The new behaviors being enforced include dress codes for both women and men, the banning of all music except religious music and forbidding of people of opposite sexes if unmarried to sit next to each other on a bus or to walk the streets together.
The imposition of these new behaviors has been accompanied by intimidation and physical violence including deliberate and arbitrary killings.
A recent report by Amnesty International includes eyewitness testimony on the situation. See page 17 of the report Mali: Five months of crisis, armed rebellion and military coup.
