Reports from Middle Juba region in Southern Somalia indicate
that three men who served as jihadists were executed by the Al-Qaeda linked
Al-Shabaab on Friday.
The three were accused and convicted of
spying for the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and for the
Somali government.
Two of those executed at a square in Jilib
town, about 410 km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, were said to be
Kenyans while the third man was a Somali. No names were given.
An Al-Shabaab court reportedly found them
guilty of working as undercover agents and faced a firing squad consisting of
hooded men. Hundreds of residents including women and children were called to
witness the event.
“Anyone found guilty of spying for western
intelligence agencies will be executed like this,” said an Al-Shabaab officials
who spoke as the men were put to death.
The Kenyans are said to be part of a large
number of foreigners who joined Al-Shabaab and known as Al-Mujahedeen
Al-Muhajereen (migrant jihadists). Most of the al-Muhajereen are said to be
from Tanzania and Kenya.
In April, militants loyal to the jihadist
movement executed a Tanzanian fighter, Isse James Muwaysiga, over espionage
also in Jilib town.
In a similar occasion, Al-Shabaab militants
executed four Somali men at Bulo Fulay in Bay region, about 260 southwest of
Mogadishu, also for spying for foreign agencies, especially the US’s CIA.
An Al-Shabaab court official stressed that
the men were found guilty of orchestrating plots that led to the killing of
senior jihadist leaders.
One of the killed men, Mohamed Ahmed Nur,
26, was actually singled out for ‘assisting the CIA’ in the killing of the
former Al-Shabaab boss Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr widely known as Ahmed Abdi
Godane.
Godane was killed in September 2014 by a US
airstrike.
Rights activists generally accuse
Al-Shabaab courts of lacking legitimacy and harsh sentences carried out without
proper representation and adequate evidence.
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