German Human Rights Commissioner on alleged stoning in Mali

BERLIN, Germany, July 31, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Federal Human Rights Commissioner Markus Löning has expressed his outrage at the alleged fatal stoning of a couple in the Kidal region of northern Mali. He issued the following statement in Berlin today (30 July):

We emphatically condemn the violence being wrought against people in northern Mali in order to establish a radical interpretation of Sharia law there. These grave human rights violations must stop. Should the appalling report on the stoning prove true, it would mean that what has occurred is a criminal offence in Mali as well as an utterly unjustifiable act.

Armed rebel groups have brought northern Mali under their control, and the Ansar al-Din group is attempting to violently impose Sharia law there.