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"I myself cut off my brother's hand", said Aliou Tour, a police chief in the Islamist-held north of this divided nation. "We had no choice but to practice the justice of God."
Entire sickening article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/wo...i.html?hp&_r=0
Islamists Harsh Justice Is on the Rise in North Mali
Joe Penney for The New York Times
There have been at least 14 cases of amputation since the Islamist takeover. Moctar Tour, above, was accused of stealing guns.
By Adam Nossiter
Published: December 27, 2012
BAMAKO, Mali Moctar Tour was strapped to a chair, blindfolded, his right hand bound tight to the armrest with a rubber tube. A doctor came and administered a shot. Then Mr. Tours own brother wielded a knife, the kind used to slaughter sheep, and methodically carried out the sentence.
Joe Penney for The New York Times
I myself cut off my brother?s hand, said Aliou Tour, a police chief in the Islamist-held north of this divided nation. We had no choice but to practice the justice of God.
Such amputations are designed to shock residents are often summoned to watch and even as the world makes plans to recapture northern Mali by force, the Islamists who control it show no qualms about carrying them out.
After the United Nations Security Council authorized a military campaign to retake the region last week, Islamists in Gao, Mr. Tours town, cut the hands off two more people accused of being thieves the very next day, a leading local official said, describing it as a brazen response to the United Nations resolution. Then the Islamists, undeterred by the international threats against them, warned reporters that eight others will soon share the same fate.
This harsh application of Shariah law, with people accused of being thieves sometimes having their feet amputated as well, has occurred at least 14 times since the Islamist takeover last spring, not including the recent vow of more to come, according to Human Rights Watch and independent observers.
But those are just the known cases, and dozens of other residents have been publicly flogged with camel-hair whips or tree branches for offenses like smoking, or even for playing music on the radio. Several were whipped in Gao on Monday for smoking in public, an official said, while others said that anything other than Koranic verses were proscribed as cellphone ringtones. A jaunty tune is punishable by flogging.
At least one case of the most severe punishment stoning to death was carried out in the town of Aguelhok in July against a couple accused of having children out of wedlock.
Trials are often rudimentary. A dozen or so jihadi judges sitting in a circle on floor mats pronounce judgment, according to former Malian officials in the north. Hearings, judgment and sentence are usually carried out rapidly, on the same day.
They do it among themselves, in closed session, said Abdou Sidib, a parliamentary deputy from Gao, now in exile here in the capital, Bamako. These people who have come among us have imposed their justice, he said. It comes from nowhere.
The jihadists are even attempting to sell the former criminal courts building in Gao, Mr. Sidib said, because they no longer have any use for it. In Timbuktu, justice is dispensed from a room in a former hotel.
Entire sickening article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/wo...i.html?hp&_r=0
Islamists Harsh Justice Is on the Rise in North Mali
Joe Penney for The New York Times
There have been at least 14 cases of amputation since the Islamist takeover. Moctar Tour, above, was accused of stealing guns.
By Adam Nossiter
Published: December 27, 2012
BAMAKO, Mali Moctar Tour was strapped to a chair, blindfolded, his right hand bound tight to the armrest with a rubber tube. A doctor came and administered a shot. Then Mr. Tours own brother wielded a knife, the kind used to slaughter sheep, and methodically carried out the sentence.
Joe Penney for The New York Times
I myself cut off my brother?s hand, said Aliou Tour, a police chief in the Islamist-held north of this divided nation. We had no choice but to practice the justice of God.
Such amputations are designed to shock residents are often summoned to watch and even as the world makes plans to recapture northern Mali by force, the Islamists who control it show no qualms about carrying them out.
After the United Nations Security Council authorized a military campaign to retake the region last week, Islamists in Gao, Mr. Tours town, cut the hands off two more people accused of being thieves the very next day, a leading local official said, describing it as a brazen response to the United Nations resolution. Then the Islamists, undeterred by the international threats against them, warned reporters that eight others will soon share the same fate.
This harsh application of Shariah law, with people accused of being thieves sometimes having their feet amputated as well, has occurred at least 14 times since the Islamist takeover last spring, not including the recent vow of more to come, according to Human Rights Watch and independent observers.
But those are just the known cases, and dozens of other residents have been publicly flogged with camel-hair whips or tree branches for offenses like smoking, or even for playing music on the radio. Several were whipped in Gao on Monday for smoking in public, an official said, while others said that anything other than Koranic verses were proscribed as cellphone ringtones. A jaunty tune is punishable by flogging.
At least one case of the most severe punishment stoning to death was carried out in the town of Aguelhok in July against a couple accused of having children out of wedlock.
Trials are often rudimentary. A dozen or so jihadi judges sitting in a circle on floor mats pronounce judgment, according to former Malian officials in the north. Hearings, judgment and sentence are usually carried out rapidly, on the same day.
They do it among themselves, in closed session, said Abdou Sidib, a parliamentary deputy from Gao, now in exile here in the capital, Bamako. These people who have come among us have imposed their justice, he said. It comes from nowhere.
The jihadists are even attempting to sell the former criminal courts building in Gao, Mr. Sidib said, because they no longer have any use for it. In Timbuktu, justice is dispensed from a room in a former hotel.