By VOA News
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Islamist militants in Somalia's capital have amputated a hand and a foot from each of four young men convicted of robbery.
The four men who each had a hand and foot cut off stand in a square in Mogadishu on 22 Jun 2009 before their sentence was carried out
A court set up by the militant group al-Shabab had found the men guilty of stealing cell phones and pistols from residents of Mogadishu.
Hooded men using a machete carried out the amputations on Thursday, as a crowd of hundreds looked on.
Witnesses said the suspected thieves, some of them believed to be teenagers, screamed in pain, and that some in the crowd had to turn away. The amputees received medical treatment afterward.
An al-Shabab spokesman who addressed the crowd said the group was implementing Sharia or Islamic law.
The group has carried out executions and amputations in the port city of Kismayo in the past.
Rights group Amnesty International had urged the militants not to harm the suspected thieves.
In a statement Thursday, the group condmened the amputations, saying they amount to torture and constitute a war crime.
Source: VOA, June 25, 2009