During a public punishment held in the center of Mogadishu, hardline Somali Islamists amputated a hand and a leg from each of four accused thieves.

According to the Daily Telegraph of London, “the four men, all believed to be teenagers as young as 17, were found guilty by a sharia court of stealing mobile phones and two guns. They were not allowed a lawyer and could not appeal a judgment.”

It is considered to be the first time such a punishment has been carried out in Somalia’s capital, and signifies the power of the al-Shebab movement that currently controls most of the city.

On Thursday, Mosque loudspeakers broadcasted an announcement that the amputations would occur at 8 a.m. Witnesses claimed that a minimum of 300 people, many of them women and children, appeared as members of the audience.

Mohammad noh, a resident who was observing the punishment, told Reuters, “their right hands and left legs have been cut off. They are due to be taken away by ambulance now for a treatment. They were screaming.”

Many Somalis had been shocked by the sentence, who customarily follow a far more moderate branch of Islam than al-Shebab’s hardline Wahabism.

As reported by the Telegraph, “the organization listed by Washington as a terror group with links to al-Qaeda, has taken control of most of southern and central somalia from the country’s weak, Western-backed government.”

In the past, it has carried out public floggings and single-limb amputations, particularly in its southern stronghol of Kismayo.

Some claimed that on Thursday that President Barack Obama’s administration had supplied weapons to Somalia’s government to aid the fight against al-Shebab.

The Telegraph reports that, “the Washington Post quoted an international securty sources as saying that Washington won approval from the UN Security Council to breach an arms embargo on Somalia to send the weapons.”

To read the entire article from the Daily Telegraph of London, link here:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment