Somali Man Stoned to Death for Adultery

Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia on Sunday stoned a man to death as a punishment for committing adultery.

Hundreds of witnesses gathered to watch the stoning death of Dayow Mohamed Hassan in Ramo Adey village in the south-central Bay region, Reuters quotes a top official representing the al Qaeda-linked militants as saying.

Hassan, 44, was sentenced to death by an Islamic court for having on an extramarital affair with a woman despite being legally married to two wives. Al Shabaab fighters buried him neck deep in a hole and pelted him with stones.

“The man was married with two wives and children. He was publicly stoned to death today for committing adultery according to the Islamic sharia,” the official said.

“The man had a third woman who was a divorcee. He did not have her according to sharia. He deceived her, saying that he went to a sheikh (local leader) and that he married her. However, when the woman got pregnant, the two families debated and there was no trace of valid matrimony. The court ruled he did not marry her legally and he was stoned to death.”

Al Shabaab says it seeks to depose the government of Somalia and establish an Islamic caliphate under strict observance of the Sharia law.

According to the BBC, al Shabaab occasionally hands out such harsh sentences for sexual related offenses including adultery, fornication and homosexuality in the areas under its control in Somalia.

In 2014, a teenage boy was stoned to death after being convicted of raping a woman and in 2008, a young girl was killed in a similar manner after being convicted of adultery.

In recent times however, the insurgents have lost much of the territory they held as they have been pushed out of the major cities and towns by a 22,000-strong AU peacekeeping force.