Somalia Militants Behead Christian For ‘Leaving Islam’
Somalia - Islamic fighters of the militant al-Shabab group have beheaded a devoted Christian for “leaving Islam”, witnesses and other sources said late Saturday, November 17.
Local Christians and Muslims, who were not identified, say that Farhan Haji Mose, 25, was murdered Friday, November 16, in the troubled Somalian coastal city, Barawa.
The militants reportedly accused the young man of “being a spy and leaving Islam”.
According to the local media, the Christian’s “body was split into two, then carried away only to be dumped near the beach.”
More Victims
Mose drew suspicion when he returned to Barawa, in Somalia’s Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011
after spending time in neighboring Kenya, said local Christians.
This was the fourth Christian known to have been beheaded since September last year, according to a BosNewsLife count.
There was no immediate response from al-Shabab, but the group has vowed to rid Somalia from Christianity.
In January 2012, al-Shabab militants killed 26-year-old Zakaria Hussein Omar, a Christian relief worker, near the capital Mogadishu.
Earlier, the group group beheaded two other Christians in September 2011, including a 17-year-old boy, identified as Guled Jama Muktar, near his home about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from capital Mogadishu.
Militants have also publicly flogged and paraded other Christian converts, according to local Christians.
This latest killing comes despite claims by Somali and African Union peacekeepers that they have made steady progress ousting al-Shabab militants from key strongholds.
Church leaders have warned that the group remains influential in border areas with Kenya, which supports the battle against al-Shabab.
Border Attacks
Reverend Wellington Mutiso, head of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya said this month that the group also “launches border attacks into Kenya with poor youths from Christian backgrounds.
Analysts have also warned of a political battle for control of newly liberated regions in Somalia, which is seen as is posing a challenge for the country’s recently established central government.
Even if Somalia’s United Nations-backed transitional government will eventually rule the nation, concerns remain as it has “embraced a form of Sharia” or Islamic law, that mandates the death penalty for converts from Islam, according to Christian rights activists.
There are said to be fewer than 31,000 Christians in Somalia as many have fled the volatile country, according to advocacy group Release International and other activists.
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