International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on March 23, 2010, members of al-Shabaab (an Al-Qaeda linked Islamic extremist group) executed another Somali Christian in Afgoye, Somalia.ICC, a Christian human rights group based in Washington, DC, told ANS that three gunmen from al-Shabaab killed Mu'awiye Hilowle Ali in front of his house. They executed him by firing from close range and hitting his head and chest. He died on the spot. The Islamists had previously accused Ali and his family of spreading fitna (an Arabic word for religious discord). Trained in the former Soviet Union, Ali had served in the Somali armed forces. He converted to Christianity in 2006.
"His body has temporarily been buried in the compound of his residential house after members of Al Shabaab refused to allow his burial to be conducted in a public burial place, calling it Muslim territory," an ICC spokesperson told ANS. Ali is survived by a wife and ten children.