| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| Somali Government Claims Al-Shabab Executed Innocent Men |
| 2009-10-01 |
| Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government has condemned the execution of two men Monday by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants and says al-Shabab murdered innocent civilians. Somali government spokesman Farhan Asanyo says the two Somali men executed by a firing squad in the capital Mogadishu had no ties to the government or to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, as al-Shabab alleged. Asanyo says the men were innocent Somalis falsely accused and murdered by al-Shabab militants. The spokesman charged that al-Shabab often targets people without evidence of any wrongdoing. The executions were carried in front of hundreds of spectators after an al-Shabab-run court found one man guilty of working as spy for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia and the other of providing intelligence to the CIA. Al-Shabab officials said the pair admitted their crimes before being sentenced to death. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Look, a private militia can't sentence anyone, not having any valid claim to sovereignty. They can call themselves "courts", but there's no reason that honest journalists, let alone Voice of America journalists, should grant them the rhetorical grace inherent in the use of the terms "sentenced" "executed" "execution" or even the phrase "falsely accused". This organization commits murder under false color of judicial process, plain and simple. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-10-01 20:50 |