Two men accused of being involved with the Salafist jihadist fundamentalist group, Al-Shabaab, were sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in military prison by the Somali military court in Mogadishu.
Col Hassan Ali Nur Shuure, chairman of the military tribunal, told reporters at the hearing that the two men were sentenced to jail terms after they were convicted of collaborating with the Al-Shabaab group, and were found guilty of plotting a terror attack in Somalia last month.
“These defendants were guilty of being members of Al-Shabaab fighting against the government and they pleaded guilty to all charges,” Shuure said in a statement.
The defendants are Mohamed Ali Kediye, and Hussein Hashi Abdullahi.
They were detained in Godinlabe village, Galgadud region by security forces on March 19, 2017 along with a vehicle packed with explosives and mobile phones aimed to detonate it.
Both defendants are able to file for an appeal if they are not satisfied with the verdict.
Who are Al-Shabaab?
Al-Shabaab means “The Youth” in Arabic.
The group emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia’s now-obsolete Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu in 2006, before being overpowered and forced out by Ethiopian forces.
There are speculative reports of foreign jihadists going to Somalia to help Al-Shabaab, from neighbouring countries, as well as the U.S. and Europe.
It is banned as a terrorist group by much of the wider world and is believed to hold between “7,000 and 9,000 fighters”, a BBC report suggests.
Al-Shabab advocates the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam.
It has attempted to impose a strict version of Sharia in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves.
