Al Shabaab rebels publicly shoot young man for his faith
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
JAMAAME DISTRICT, SOMALIA
(ANS) -- Morning Star News (http://morningstarnews.org)
is reporting that Islamic extremists from the rebel Al Shabaab in
Somalia earlier this month publicly shot a young man to death after
identifying him as a Christian, sources said.
Detail of the body of Hassan Hurshe
(Morning Star News photo) |
"Al Shabaab members on June 7 brought Hurshe to a public place in the town of Jilib and shot him in the head, they said."
A witness said, "Many people watched this horrible action, including women and children."
Another area resident
independently confirmed this account of the execution. A leader of the
Somali underground church in Kenya who had also heard of the murder said
Hurshe converted to Christianity in 2006, married in 2008 and fathered a
baby boy in 2009.
The Morning Star News story went on to say that the family left
for Jilib, a town of about 45,000 in the Middle Juba Region, in the
latter part of 2010 to visit family and start a small food shop, the
source said.
Somalis are considered Muslim by birth, and apostasy, or leaving Islam, is punishable by death. After the execution, Hurshe's parents, widow and son fled the area, a local resident said.
Al Shabaab militants
|
Al Shabaab, said to have ties
with Al Qaeda terrorists, has vowed to rid Somalia of Christians, who
meet secretly due to persecution.
"The insurgents have lost control of several areas of Somalia
since Kenyan military forces helped to dislodge them in the past year,
but they are suspected in the shooting death of a Christian pharmacist
on the outskirts of Kismayo in February," said the East Africa
correspondent.
"Two masked men killed Ahmed
Ali Jimale, a 42-year-old father of four, on Feb. 18 as he stood
outside his house in Alanley village.
"On Dec. 8, 2012 in
Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, gunmen killed
a Christian who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam. Two
unidentified, masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home,
Muslim and Christian sources said."
The story added that Siad
and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000, had moved to
Beledweyne from Doolow eight months before. The area was under
government control and there was no indication that the killers belonged
to the Al Shabaab rebels, but the Islamic extremist insurgents were
present in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, and Christians
believed a few Al Shabaab rebels could have been hiding in Beledweyne.
In the coastal city of
Barawa on Nov. 16, 2012, Al Shabaab militants killed a Christian after
accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim
witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose
after monitoring his movements for six months, sources said.
"Mose drew suspicion when he
returned to Barawa, in the Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011
after spending time in Kenya, according to underground Christians in
Somalia. Kenya's population is nearly 83 percent Christian, according to
Operation World, while Somalia's is close to 100 percent Muslim," the
story concluded.
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