BAMAKO // An unmarried couple were stoned to death in public in north-east Mali by “Islamists”, the first such incident since extremist groups were driven out of the region.
Extremists seized northern cities in Mali in March 2012, and though they were driven out by a French-led military intervention in 2013, some groups continue to make their presence felt with frequent attacks on domestic and foreign forces.
“The Islamists dug two holes where they put the man and the woman who lived maritally without being married,” said a local official. “They were stoned to death.”
The stoning happened in Taghlit on Tuesday, close to Aguelhok in the Kidal region. Members of the public were invited to take part.
“Four people threw stones at them until they died,” witnesses said.
Another local official said the extremists had accused the unmarried couple of violating “Islamic law”, which requires punishment by stoning.
During their brief control of key towns in the vast north, Ansar Dine imposed a version of Sharia law which forced women to wear veils and set whipping and stoning as punishment for transgressions.
In July 2012, the Al Qaeda-linked group stoned a couple in public in Aguelhok who they accused of having children outside marriage.
The stoning comes on the eve of an expected visit to Mali by the new French president Emmanuel Macron, who is due to meet French soldiers.
The Malian Association for the Defence of Human Rights described the stoning as “cowardly murder”.
“This is barbaric. The people who did this should be arrested and put on trial,” said Oumar Diakite, an AMDH official.
A 2015 peace deal signed by Tuareg rebels, the government and pro-Bamako militias aimed to quell separatist uprisings in the north and isolate Ansar Dine.
But its implementation has been piecemeal and the extremists, who did not sign up to the accord, continue to attack civilians and the army, as well as French and UN forces.
* Agence France-Presse
