Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on executions by stoning in Somalia

The European Union condemns the recent executions by stoning in Al Shabab-controlled areas of Somalia, including of a woman accused of adultery, close to the town of Wajid, and of Abas Hussein Abdirahman, in the town of Merka.
The European Union recalls its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances and regrets the continued occurrence of executions in Somalia. Execution by stoning is a particularly cruel and inhuman form of punishment.
The European Union calls on all relevant parties to refrain from and abolish the practice of executions and to respect human rights and international humanitarian law at large. The European Union also calls on all relevant parties to ensure that the practice of execution by stoning is effectively and permanently terminated in the country, in conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, both of which Somalia has acceded to.
The European Union calls on the relevant parties to prevent the execution of the woman who was condemned to death together with Abas Hussein Abdirahman.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process."