Women: the Target of Fundamentalists

Recently, we experienced the drama of Safiya Husseini, sentenced to death by stoning by the Islamic court of Sokoto in Nigeria, for committing the “crime” of having an extra-marital child. It was followed by the death penalty for Abok Alfa Akok, a pregnant southern Sudanese woman. These two incidents brought to the public debate the issue of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms for millions of women around the world. Although the international outcry, the mobilization of the civil society and the European Parliament managed, in the last minute, to save the lives of the two women, the issue of violence against women remains.