Justice According to Al-Shabaab

Mogadishu — When the punishment, 100 whip lashes, was postponed because she was pregnant Ms Anab Mussa thought she was the luckiest woman in the world. She had misread the Al-Shabaab-backed court.

The court in Wanlaweyn town, some 100 kilometres west of Mogadishu, had convicted Anab for having sexual relations out of wedlock.Two weeks ago on January 4, having delivered, she received her public flogging at a gathering overseen by the court's judge . Her partner, Omar Mohamed Ahmed, who received the same number of lashes, had earlier been expelled from the town in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law.)Anab's punishment was light compared to what happened on the same day to 19-year-old Omar Mohamed Nur in the town of Baidoa, 240 kilometres southwest of the capital Mogadishu.Nur had an arm and a leg, each from the opposite sides of his body, amputated by Al-Shabaab militants after a district judge convicted him of robbery."The sentence and its execution are consistent with Sharia," intoned the judge, Sheikh Abu Faisal. Welcome to the world of Al-Shabab, the feared Islamic militia that controls large swathes of central and southern Somalia.It was perhaps its claim to the July 11 bombings of World Cup fans in Uganda which killed 75 people that shot Al-Shabaab to international infamy, but the group had by then already earned notoriety for its harsh interpretation of Islamic law and sustained siege on the country's teetering transitional federal government.
Some 500 kilometres south of Mogadishu lies Kismayu, a picturesque port town that is Somalia's third largest city. Its beauty belies the goings on within. Under full control of Al-Shabaab, here Sharia is applied to its fullest form.Human rights and civil liberty activists often criticise the Islamic courts for not providing defence lawyers and convicting on insufficient evidence, in addition to speedy execution of harsh sentences.Even moderate Islamists have their concerns, arguing that such severe punishments should be carried out by an all-agreed Islamic state and not a movement like Al-Shabaab that cannot guarantee the livelihood of amputees and other disability-causing punishments.On January 14, the militants brought to the public square a man said to have stolen from a shop in the outskirts of Kismayu. He lost his right hand at the wrist after he allegedly confessed to having stolen Somali Shillings 1,900,000 (about $60) and rice worth SSh300,000 ($10).Four men accused of stealing a gun and money were also presented to the crowd, and sentenced to hand amputations to be carried out in the "near future". Such amputations are severe enough sentences, but others lose their lives through these controversial sentences.In October 2008, the relatives of a woman stoned to death by militia members in the town on suspicion of adultery argued that she was only 13 years old. According to her parents, the girl was raped by three men and had been reporting the incident when she was instead arrested and charged.Last year in October in Beledweyne town, some 335 kilometres north of Mogadishu, residents cried freely when two women were sentenced to death with the punishment being immediately carried out.The residents disputed the spying charges against the two teenage girls and did little to hide their suspicion of an Al-Shabaab cover-up of, perhaps, rape by the militia's own men to avoid scandal.Despite the efforts of civil liberty activists, buzzwords such as individual freedoms and rights do not exist in the militia's vocabulary in the areas they control. There have been a slew of cases of quite bizarre interpretation of Sharia.One of the most notorious was in October 2009 when the militants carried out routine checks to ascertain if women wore brassieres.Their use is considered un-Islamic by the militants. In most cases, young men would ask females to shake their bosoms vigorously. A firm body suggested a woman was wearing a bra.What would then follow was an automatic order to remove the "offending" bra with humiliated women rushing home to comply.Recently, in Afgoye town 30 kilometres south of Mogadishu, a new set of rules were introduced. Officials moved around the town instructing women to attend muhathara (religious explanations) focusing on jihad (holy war) on Thursdays and Fridays. The women were also to wear extra heavy clothing that covered the entire body. "Our conventional hijab (body covering) is not allowed by the militants," complained a woman in Afgoye who did not want to be named for fear of a backlash."I think some people close to the movement are marketing the heavy fabric being made mandatory," she added.The same message was disseminated to women residing in the camps between Mogadishu and Afgoye that are home to over half a million internally displaced people.On the same day, militants in Jowhar town, 90 kilometres north of Mogadishu, dictated that women and men shouldn't shake hands. Unrelated men and women could also not walk together or chat in public.
Indeed, Jowhar has been in the thick of the restrictions. It is one of the first places where playing and watching football was limited. School bells were banned on the premise that they reminded the fanatics of the tolling of church bells.At the height of last year's World Cup in South Africa, Al-Shabaab officials in many districts introduced severe sentences against anybody caught watching, listening to, or even discussing the matches.Football lovers in parts of Mogadishu controlled by Al-Shabaab had to migrate to areas in the city that were under government control to catch up with the popular tournament.As it were, the militants were happy to lay claim to the Kampala blasts. School curricula in many areas under Al-Shabaab control have also been reviewed, banning English as the medium of instruction and introducing jihadist theories.Men have been particularly hit by the restrictions. Prayer beads used by moderate Muslims were banned, on the perplexing claim that the beads were embraced by Muslims only after the death of Prophet Mohammed and hence are alien to Islam.Youngsters sporting haircuts styled after their favourite sports or music idols are often shaved on the spot should they have the misfortune of running into scissor-brandishing militants.Men are also required to allow their beards to grow, while moustaches must be trimmed close to the skin. "Anybody with a grown moustache and shaven beard is to receive warnings and then punishment," an Al-Shabaab order dictated in 2008.Any trouser long enough to go beyond the ankles should be shortened. Militiamen, armed with scissors, are quite visible in market places and other public sites."Excuse me brother, let me shorten it for you," is what that one hears before the extra length is nipped off. Men with non-conformist behaviour or looks often suffer public flogging or jail sentences.There is no end in sight to the enforcement, given the movement's grip on the failed state. However, condemnation of its ways has not been in short supply, most recently from President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.On January 7 the Somali head of state accused the militants of laying claim to women married to civil servants. "To marry the women, they quote the excuse that government employees (their husbands) are serving the enemy of Islam," said the president, himself an avid Islamic scholar."That kind of move is against the basic foundations of our faith," he added while preaching in a mosque at Villa Somalia, the state house in Mogadishu. Some of Al-Shabaab directives have been disastrous. One banned humanitarian agencies from operating in their area at a time when drought is ravaging the Horn of Africa.Their influence may yet grow. Since the Islamic militants do not recognise national boundaries and consider the whole globe as Allah's land. The only acceptable banner is the black flag flown whenever they seize new territories in Somalia. The Somali flag, distinguishable by its blue colour and five-pointed white star in the middle, is immediately lowered. In Al-Shabaab's realm, there are no borders to separate human beings, thus no states. They believe radical Islamist forces will reach all corners of the world, converting all human beings to Islam. To realise their dream, they even reach out to world leaders.On December 28, the Chief Awareness Raiser of Al-Shabaab, Sheikh Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf Shogole, advised US President Barack Obama to convert to Islam, warning him that doing so would help avert the wrath of Somali Islamists when they "reach" there (USA).