Somali Court Orders Amputations for Mobile Phone Thieves

A court under the control of a Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab has ordered four young men suspected of stealing guns and mobile phones to have a hand and a leg amputated, but the punishment was postponed.

An al-Shabab spokesman told the Associated Press the sentence would be carried out but was delayed because of fears the men could bleed to death in the hot weather.  The human rights organization Amnesty International has condemned the amputation sentences as a violation of international law.

The four young men were sentenced on Monday to cross-amputation (amputation of the right hand and the left foot) by an "ad-hoc" court set up by Al-Shabab in their military camp in northern Mogadishu. They were accused of stealing pistols and mobile phones from Mogadishu residents.

Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Africa Deputy Director said that "these sentences were ordered by a sham Al-Shabab court with no due process or guarantees of fairness." The four men allegedly admitted to the robbery, but have not been represented by a lawyer, nor are they allowed to appeal against their sentence.

In May, 2009, al-Shabaab, along with allied grou Hizbul Islam launched a major offensive in the city of Mogadishu to take over the city leaving hundreds killed and injured and tens of thousands displaced. The group made large gains, taking over most of the capital.

Posted to the site on 24th June 2009