Somalia’s al Qaeda-inspired group on Thursday afternoon stoned a man to death after accusing him of committing rape, an official of the group said.
Sharma’arke Abdullahi Mohamoud was killed in a square in the Mahas district of the Hiran region as hundreds of local inhabitants watched.
An al Shabaab official said that an Islamic court had reached the decision after Mohammed confessed he had forcibly raped a young girl, Deqa Abdulle Nur.
The official said the man was stoned because he committed the rape as a married man.
An eyewitness said before the stoning was carried out, the convicted man was buried up to his head.
“He was screaming with blood flowing from his head as al Shabaab fighters hit his head with big stones. After several minutes his soul left and stopped moving,” an eyewitness added in a translated interview.
Generally, alleged spies and Christians have been publicly executed. Thieves have had their legs and hands cut off. Women accused of adultery have been beaten and stoned.
In May, the hard-line militants executed two young Somalis accused of being spies in a southern Somalia town.
AHN
SOMALIA: AL Shabab group stones man to death
Published: June 17, 2011
