BALTIMORE NEWS: Four men from Somalia have had their hands cut off for stealing phones and guns.
Hardline Islamists carried out the sentences on the men after they had been convicted in a Sharia court earlier this week.
Mainly women and children watched as masked men cut off a hand and foot of each of the men with machetes.
Witnesses have said the four men cried for help during and after the amputations.
The four men had reportedly admitted to the robberies, but were given no appeal against their sentence.
The amputations were carried out by members of the al-Shabab group, which controls much of the south of the country.
Most Somalis traditionally practise a more tolerant form of Islam but President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who took office in January, immediately allowed Sharia law. [Source: BaltimoreNews.net] | Thursday, June 25, 2009
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Somali Islamists carry out public double amputation on 'thieves': Hardline Somali Islamists amputated a leg and a hand from each of four alleged thieves in a public punishment held in the middle of Mogadishu >>> Mike Pflanz in Nairobi | Thursday, June 25, 2009
