Michael Essien of Chelsea surges away from Ryan Giggs of Manchester United during the Barclays Premiership match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on November 26, 2006 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Mogadishu, November 27, 2006 – Islamic rulers in Somalia arrested a group of football fans, some as young as ten years old, for watching yesterday's English premiership league game between Chelsea and Manchester United in a cinema.

The sports fans were seized by the Islamists who also destroyed and confiscated equipment belonging to the cinema in the Buulo Burde district of Hiiran region in central Somalia.

Eye witness Adul Waahid Ahmed told the AIPS website that during the fiercely contested 1-1 game between Chelsea and Manchester United masked Islamists stormed into the cinema and opened fire above the heads of the viewers.

"Everyone ran toward the front of the cinema and only 25 of the more than 150 fans were arrested and had their heads shaved," the eye witness told Shafici Mohyaddin Abokar of the Somali Sports Press Association via phone this morning.

"Praise be to Allah no one was hurt," he said

The Islamic Courts Union which now fully controls most of south and central regions of lawless Somalia is strengthening its position throughout the region and banned the watching of sport as part of its campaign to impose Islamic rule on the country.

Sheik Hussein Barre Raage of the district Islamic Courts Union in Buulo Burde harshly criticized the viewing of sport by Somali citizens and said that anyone caught watching a match would be registered as a criminal.

"Now the bad lovers of sport are in jail and will remain there until they are taught the good culture and lessons of Islam," the Islamist administrator said.

The Sheik told a press conference that Somali youth are obliged to go to the holy war instead of watching what he called "the bad games which descended from the old Christian cultures." The Sheik decreed that instead of watching television, sports fans must register at specially established holy war registration centers.

Sheik Hussein Barre Raage said that the ICU had already issued a warrant banning the watching of any sport games. “Anyone caught ignoring the Islamic law will be imprisoned and forgotten in jail and those who are already in jail will be dealt with in accordance with the law of Islam,” he said.

This morning relatives were unsuccessful in having fans released, some of whom are younger than 10 years old.

In what is seen as an escalating campaign, Islamists in the   Afgooye district of the lower Shabelle region closed cinemas, arrested the owners and confiscated equipment.

Recently the ICU and leaders of the Somali NOC agreed that only men were able to participate in sporting activity, but the ICU has continued to enforce a complete ban on the viewing of all foreign sporting contests.

By Muse Mohamed Osman

President, Somali Sports Press Association