SOMALIA: THREE SOLDIERS EXECUTED IN MOGADISHU

January 15, 2011: a military court in Somalia executed three soldiers of transitional federal government on Saturday who were found guilty of murder. Scores of local residents packed the square in Mogadishu’s Hamar-jajab where a government firing squad carried out the death penalty in public. After the execution, military court Judge Hassan Mohammed Hussein Mungab held a press conference in a police center not far from where the execution took place. “Abdul Azeez Mohyidiin Ga’al, a policeman, was found guilty of murdering another soldier of Somali police forces,” Mungab said, adding that he was sentenced to death in December. “The second executed man, Antob Arabow Addan, killed Hassan Mohammed Sabiye, a civilian, last year.” The third man executed, Wowlid Mohammed, confessed to murdering a civil servant in 2010, according to Mungab. The court martial judge cautioned government soldiers against the harassment and murder of innocent civilians and said the court was determined to deal with any soldier involved in misconduct. (Sources: www.allheadlinenews.com; BBC, 15/01/2011)