Post by Charles Martel on Jan 19, 2009 23:18:54 GMT
Somali executed for 'apostasy'
An Islamist militia has executed a Somali politician who they accused of betraying his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.
An Islamist spokesman in the port of Kismayo told the BBC that Abdirahman Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday.
Mr Ahmed was also accused of spying for Ethiopian forces, said to be backing the forces of warlord Barre Hiraale in trying to recapture Kismayo.
He is believed to be the first politician executed by the Islamists.
Ethiopian forces are pulling out of Somalia, two years after they intervened to try to oust Islamists from the capital Mogadishu.
But their mission to prop up the interim government is widely regarded as a failure as various Islamist group have recently advanced and once more control much of the country.
A group of hardline Islamists retook the coastal city of Kismayo last August.
Islamist authorities in the city stoned a 12-year-old girl to death for adultery in November, although her aunt said she had been raped.
More at: BBC News
An Islamist militia has executed a Somali politician who they accused of betraying his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.
An Islamist spokesman in the port of Kismayo told the BBC that Abdirahman Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday.
Mr Ahmed was also accused of spying for Ethiopian forces, said to be backing the forces of warlord Barre Hiraale in trying to recapture Kismayo.
He is believed to be the first politician executed by the Islamists.
Ethiopian forces are pulling out of Somalia, two years after they intervened to try to oust Islamists from the capital Mogadishu.
But their mission to prop up the interim government is widely regarded as a failure as various Islamist group have recently advanced and once more control much of the country.
A group of hardline Islamists retook the coastal city of Kismayo last August.
Islamist authorities in the city stoned a 12-year-old girl to death for adultery in November, although her aunt said she had been raped.
More at: BBC News
