Islamists Amputate Limbs of 4 Somalis Accused of Theft
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/world/africa/26somalia.html?ref=global-homeMOGADISHU, Somalia — Islamic insurgents trying to overthrow the government of Somalia cut off the right hands and left legs of four young men accused of theft on Thursday, bringing their strict brand of justice to the capital for the first time, witnesses said.
Somalia has been reeling from a pitched battle between the transitional government and the insurgents, particularly in the capital, Mogadishu, where hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks alone.
Responding to what he called an urgent request by Somali officials, the State Department spokesman, Ian Kelley, said Thursday that the United States had provided Somalia’s government with weapons and ammunition “to repel the onslaught of extremist forces” that were “spoiling efforts to bring peace and stability” to the nation.
The Shabab, one of the principal Islamic groups fighting to topple the government, was behind the punishment. It has imposed harsh sentences in other parts of the country that it controls and, at least once, stoned to death a teenage girl who said she had been raped, an act that drew international condemnation.
But residents described the amputations on Thursday as the first in the capital since a clan-based Islamic court carried out similar sentences about 15 years ago. Analysts said the Shabab, which is accused of having links to Al Qaeda, might be trying to win popular support in the capital by showing that it could achieve stability in the chaotic nation through a firm enactment of Shariah, or Islamic law.
The issue has emerged as a contentious element in the battle for control. The government is led by moderate Islamists who have, at least officially, agreed to make Shariah the basis of Somalia’s legal system, a move that could politically isolate the more extreme wing of the insurgency by undermining its claims of legitimacy.
But the government’s enactment of Islamic law seems to have been delayed, in part because it is struggling to simply survive, much less carry out new measures. So it remains unclear exactly how the government’s interpretation of Shariah would be practiced.
The amputations of the four young men, who had been accused of stealing items like a cellphone or a pistol, took place near a former animal market in front of a crowd of more than 100 people, many of them women and children. Some shouted “God is great” at the spectacle, witnesses said, while others fell to the ground in shock and fear.
The Shabab said it would care for the men until their wounds had healed.
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