Friday, January 16, 2009

Somali executed for 'apostasy'

BBC NEWS- Africa-A Somali politician has been executed after being accused of changing his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.
An Islamist spokesman in the port of Kismayo told the BBC that Abdirahman Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday.
Mr Ahmed had worked with Kismayo's former warlord - the MP Barre Hirale - who is accused of attempting to retake the city with Ethiopian backing.
Ethiopian forces are leaving Somalia, after trying to oust Islamists in 2006.
But their mission is largely regarded as a failure as most of the country is controlled by Islamists again.
A group of hardline Islamists retook the coastal city of Kismayo in last August.
Islamist authorities in the city stoned a 12-year-old girl to death for adultery in November, although her aunt said she was raped.
Relatives of Abdirahman Ahmed - also known as Waldiire - told the BBC he did not have a lawyer present during his trial in a Sharia court.
They say he was arrested about a week ago and they were informed of his death sentence on Thursday morning.
After his execution his brother pleaded to be able to bury his body, however, he was told the burial had already been done.