SOMALIA. ISLAMISTS TO STONE RAPISTS TO DEATH

Somalia's newly powerful Islamists said they will stone to death five rapists, in what some fear is the latest sign of a plan to install a hardline Islamic authority like Afghanistan's Taliban. The punishments, like others carried out by the Islamists in Sharia courts in the capital Mogadishu and elsewhere, follow the recent naming of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- on a UN list of al Qaeda associates -- to head of the Council of Islamic Courts. The council is a parliament for the Islamists, whose well-trained militias seized Mogadishu from US-backed warlords on June 5 after months of fighting that killed at least 350.
The rapists were to be stoned to death in Jowhar.
"Five men who raped four women on June 22 will be stoned to death today [June 26] in accordance with the Islamic sharia. They have pleaded guilty to the crime and also have been identified by the victims," Siyad Mohamed, a militia leader linked to Islamic courts, told Reuters by phone.
Mohamed later said the execution had been delayed as the courts looked to arrest a sixth suspect. He said it was not clear when the sentences would be carried out.