"Yes, I confirm it. We applied sharia in Ansongo yesterday (Wednesday). The hand of a thief was cut off. Sharia demands it," a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), Mohamed Ould Abdine, told AFP.
A local government official in the town south of Gao, one of the capitals of the vast desert region, said he witnessed the amputation.
"I am in Gao now, but yesterday I was in Ansongo. There was a lot of blood when the hand was cut. It was the hand of a thief who stole a motorbike," he told AFP.
He added that dozens of people had witnessed the public amputation.
Abdine said the sentence was "the law of God." » | Source: AFP | Thursday, August 09, 2012
