...... the personification of Somali state failure...
Lions of Islam were on Wednesday sentenced by a military court in Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
, the northern state of Somalia, which is regarded as the most stable region in the shaky Horn of Africa nation, which has been fighting to stabilize for the last three decades since the start of civil war.
After the trial, the court sentenced Mohammed Deeq Salad Abdi to 20 years, Ismail Daud Jirow Harfanay to 30 years, and Abdulkhadir Abukar Sheikh Mohammed to 15 years. Evidence against them for being members of the al-Shabaab Lions of Islam was overwhelming, the court ruled.
Documentary evidence submitted by prosecutors revealed how the three men were responsible for explosives in Galkayo, a town that borders Puntland and Galmadug states in central Somalia, necessitating the decision by military court to send them to jail for various sentences.
The court also determined that they had affiliations with al-Shabaab networks, some of whose members have already been executed by the court, while others remain incarcerated. The sentencing comes at a time when Somalia is fighting
According to prosecutors, the three men confessed to close association with the al-Shabaab hard boys, but their lawyers insisted that they were coerced to admit crimes that they had not committed. Military courts have proved to be reliable and efficient in the delivery of justice within Somalia.
Six months ago, the Puntland military court executed 13 Lions of Islam who were members of both al-Shabaab and Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
terror groups. The region has been candid in the fight against al-Shabaab hard boys, stretching it further by training and maintaining a strong regional security force.
The outcome of the case would significantly boost the fight against al-Shabaab, with some members also switching allegiance to the government of Somalia due to ongoing operations, analysts say. al-Shabaab is fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia.