A top court in Somalia sentences militants to death and life in jail

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Two Al-Shabaab convicts were on Thursday, November 14 slapped with a death sentence by an army court in the Somali capital, Mogadishu fter a lengthy trial, Garowe Online reports.

Colonel Hassan Ali Nur Shute, the Somali Military court chairman announced that Abdullahi Mohamed was sentenced to death sentence after finding him guilty of killing four people in Mogadishu.

Armed with a pistol, the court concluded, Mohamed also attempted to kill a woman before he was apprehended by the police.

"In 2017 and 2018, Mohamed killed four people and wounded one. He also attempted to kill an innocent woman, therefore he has been sentenced to death," the court ruled.

For Sadik Omar, the court said, he killed one man within the streets of Mogadishu this year. He was also condemned to the death penalty by the court.

While delivering the publicized sentence, the military court chairman Hassan also found two other men culpable of executing terrorist associated activities.

The two, Mohamed Osman Ahmed and Ismail Mohamed Aweys were given a life sentence in a ruling that expressed Somalia's commitment in the fight against Al-Shabaab.

"The court finds the two of you guilty of coordinating terrorism activities and hereby condemns you to a life sentence," the military chairman added.

Ismail Mohamed Aweys was arrested while on the run after failing to murder a woman in Mogadishu this year by vigilant security forces.

Thursday's sentences come barely 72 hours after a United Nations report identified the Al-Shabaab militant group as still a threat to security and stability in Somalia.

According to the report, the team has abandoned illegal charcoal trade and resorted to mafia-style taxation which targets big companies within Somalia.

Al-Shabaab, the report added, takes advantage of inaccessible areas by providing services to locals, a move that threatens peace initiatives within the Horn of Africa nation.

Early this month, the terrorist group released the video of its leader Ahmed Omar, which is believed to have been recorded hours to foiled Ballidogle military base attack.

During the attack, at least 11 militants were killed on the spot by deadly Danaab special forces, who are trained by the American forces.

In the video, Omar who was partially captured, accused the US of waging attacks against civilians, adding that the US and allied forces will be defeated.

"They lost in Afghanistan and they are nowhere occupying our land. They have imposed Ethiopians and Kenyans on us, killing our people. We shall defeat them," he said.

Despite being a designated terrorist group, Al-Shabaab militants are yet to be earmarked as a terrorist organized by the United Nations, a strategy Kenya wants to be employed.

GAROWE ONLINE