Second group of ‘spies’ executed by Somali Islamists
What you need to know:
- Addressing a large crowd of residents in the town, a court judge announced the death sentences, one at a time.
- After the verdicts, militant youths with faces covered fired rounds, ensuring the three died on the spot.
- Salah Fu’ad Osman, 24, was allegedly found spying for the Somali government while the third, Mr Mohamed Omar Dirie, 22, was said to be an information collector for the US.
For the second time in a week, three men were sentenced to death for spying in Barawe town, 200 km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
They were sentenced by a court belonging to Al-Shabaab, the radical Islamist group vehemently challenging the Somali government on Monday.
One of the men named Mohamed Adan Ibrahim, 26, was convicted of ‘‘spying for Kenya’’.
The second man Salah Fu’ad Osman, 24, was allegedly found spying for the Somali government while the third, Mr Mohamed Omar Dirie, 22, was said to be an information collector for the US.
Addressing a large crowd of residents in the town, a court judge announced the death sentences, one at a time.
“These men were found guilty of spying for the enemy. No such act will be tolerated,” said the judge whose speech was transmitted by al-Andalus, a broadcaster run by the movement.
“They were also engaged in recruiting other youths for the spying business,” he added.
After the verdicts, militant youths with faces covered fired rounds, ensuring the three died on the spot.
Residents, who anonymously contacted the media in Mogadishu for reasons of security, asserted that the youth were known to belong to Al-Shabaab.
