Return to stone age

Mogadishu, Somalia

Somalia’s Council of Islamic Courts announced this week that it will execute five rapists by stoning. The decree reflects the new political power of the Islamists, who recently seized large swaths of the country, including the capital, from American-backed warlords. Last week, the Islamists selected a militant sheik, Hassan Dahir Aweys, as their new leader. Aweys, whom the U.S. has linked to al Qaida, called for an Islamic state in Somalia. But he also agreed to recognize and work with the country’s official secular government, which maintains little influence.

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