MOGADISHU (AFP) - Somalia's Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab militia Monday publicly executed a man and chopped off the right hand of another in Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said.
Masked gunmen carried out the punishments in front of hundreds of residents in Mogadishu's northern Daynile neighborhood.
The executed man was accused of murder while the other was charged with theft, Islamist court judge Sheik Ali Omar said."Mohamed Ahmed Qasim was found guilty of murdering a man and the Islamic Court of the Mujahedins sentenced him to death while Shine Abukar Hersi is sentenced to have his right hand chopped for stealing a property worth 300 dollars," the judge said.
"We asked the relatives of the executed defendant's victim to pardon him before he was shot, but they insisted to have him killed and the court carried out the punishment," he added.
Mogadishu resident Sheik Mahad said the slain man had stabbed his uncle to death two months ago.
"When the court asked if we should forgive him we decided that he be executed," he said. "He was a killer and he faced his fate."
Witness Adan Mohamed said: "I saw him die. They finished him instantly in front of us."
The hardline militia, which controls much of the lawless Horn of Africa country, practice a strict brand of Islam and violators of their edicts face harsh punishment.
In recent years, the insurgents have imposed a series of restrictions such as outlawing watching films and football, prescribing dress codes and banning listening to music.
They have also destroyed the graves of moderate Islamic clerics to crack down on alleged idolatry.
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