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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sarah Johnson and Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Somalia

‘A rushed execution’: the case of the woman convicted of child murder that shocked Somalia

Hodan Mohamud Diiriye speaks into a microphone.
Hodan Mohamud Diiriye was found guilty of torturing and causing the death of 14-year-old Saabirin Saylaan. Photograph: Handout

On 12 November last year, Hodan Mohamud Diiriye called her husband to tell him that his 14-year-old great niece, Saabirin Saylaan, who had been living in their house for two months, was unconscious. Together, they took Saabirin to the hospital in Galkayo, in central Somalia, where medical staff pronounced her dead and called the police.

Diiriye, a 34-year-old mother of more than 10 children, was arrested. Less than three months later, on 3 February, she was executed by a firing squad for murder.

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