...... Somalia's version of the Taliban...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
in the Harardhere district last year.
The elders were arrested by the security forces in Adado on December 27 last year for breaching the government directive banning dealing with the al-Qaeda-linked group.
The defendants are Omar Mohammed Jimale Adan (Omar Faninte), Ali Ahmed Hayle Araalle (Ali Yare), and Sugaal Warsame Ali Yarow. From today, they will begin serving the jail term.
Their sentence coincides with a time when the Somali government waged a massive war against al-Shabaab from different fronts and seized large swathes of key territory.
Hassan Ali Nur Shute, chairman of the Military Court has announced the verdict.
The elders who hail from Adado argued that they have not entered a deal with al-Shabaab and termed the accusation as a fake agreement.
They told the court that their intention to go to al-Shabaab-held area to negotiate with the group about the release of men held in Harardhere, a coastal city now under SNA control.