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"The dusty streets of Kismayo in Somalia echoed to the sound of a vehicle with loudspeakers summoning residents to a new form of public "entertainment" earlier this month.
People were being invited to see a man have his hand chopped off in a public park in the city.
The Islamic Sharia court of Kismayo district confirms that Mohamed Omar Ismail has been found guilty of stealing," the official announced.
The official quoted a chapter from the Koran known as Surah Maida, verse 38, which is about stealing and relevant punishment.
He said that the verse decreed that punishment for stealing was that the right hand of the thief should be cut off.
Bloody hand dangled
The eyewitness told of his horror as the bloody body part was dangled by its index finger in front of the crowd to prove that punishment had been meted out.
Amputations and the recent stoning to death of a 13-year-old mentally disabled girl are shocking displays of al-Shabab's interpretation of Islamic law.
And their writ extends into everyday life
Savages from a thousand years ago. Too bad they also have access to assault weapons.
A close friend who took a job in Saudi Arabia once called me from there and said: "Bernhard you were so right! They don't respect us - they think we are all whores!" (I had warned her years earlier of the Saudi guys she and her friends were dating while she lived in LA). She then proceeded to tell me witnessing an open air execution (in Jeddah) of some 'foreign looking dude' by a sword-wielding executioner. She said: "At first I thought it was like the Farmer's market, (in Kilauea, Kauai HI) but then I saw the cuffed guy and the guy with the sword and next thing I saw was a head flying up and blood squirting every which way!" Medieval Times are well and alive TODAY, for those who fancy orthodox interpretations of 'holy scriptures'.