Baladweyn, Somalia, January 30, 2010 (SL Times) – An alliance between Hizb al-Islam and al-Shabaab took over Baladweyn, a town that is 206 miles north of Mogadishu, after wresting control of the town from the militia of Ahlu al-Sunnah wa-al-Jama’ah. The town has changed hands several times in the last few months and will probably change hands again, so there is nothing new here. What is really new and shocking is that as soon as Hizb al-Islam and al-Shabaab militias seized the town they beheaded two prisoners and hanged their heads from a public square.
In an interview with the BBC Somali Service (Jan.27, 2010), the Vice chairman of Hizb al-Islam in Hiiraan, Muhammad Abdillahi acknowledged that they beheaded the two prisoners of war. He justified this barbaric by action by calling the prisoners heretics who deserve what happened to them because they were members of the group Ahlu al-Sunnah wa-al-Jama’ah. Muhammad Abdillahi’s claim is far from the truth because Islam strongly prohibits any mistreatment of prisoners let alone executing them and hanging their heads from a public square.
















 

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