Al-Shabaab courts in Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle...

Al-Shabaab courts in Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle sentenced two men to death by stoning, Somalia Report’s website reported. A death sentence was carried out in Bal'ad district of Middle Shabelle to man called Ahmed Ismail Bo'or who was accused of killing a business man called Muse Sheikh Ali. The accused man was from Mukay Dheere location of Bal'ad district. The judge of the court accused him of other crimes, including robbery. "This man was a burden to the people of the region, he killed a trader and robbed many people of their property, and accepted the charges," said the Judge Sheikh Ahmed Idris Abi Yahya. Al-Shabaab administration in Shaan village of Lower Shabelle region stoned 24-year-old Abdi Nur Salah Sandheere to death after he was charged with raping and killing a 17-year-old girl in December 2011. According to the court, the man killed the girl after he raped her. The case was forwarded to Al-Shabaab administration by the parents of the girl. People came out in large numbers to witness the killing of the accused man. Al-Shabaab has said that they apply Islamic Shariah law to govern the regions under their control, but many Somali religious leaders and other Islamic scholars dispute their interpretation and practice of Islamic law. "When a person is sentenced to being stoned to death, there are several condition must be applied. This is not something which can be concluded in two or three days, and there must be evidence or eyewitnesses who establish criminal identity, but al-Shabaab provide neither clear evidence nor witnesses. They are killing people senselessly," Somali religious leader Sheikh Dahir Abdi Abdul told Somalia Report.