WUNRN
SOMALIA - WOMEN IN SOMALI CITY MUST
WEAR
ISLAMIC DRESS COVERING OR FACE JAIL
TIME
April
20, 2009
(CNN) -- Women in Somalia's
third-largest city, Baidoa, have been ordered to wear Islamic dress starting
this week or face jail time, according to a resident and Somali media reports.
Somali women wait to get medicine at a clinic near Mogadishu.
The order -- issued last week by Al-Shabaab, the radical
Islamist militia that controls the city -- also warns business owners to close
their shops during daily prayers, or they will be temporarily shut down, a
local journalist said.
The militia has ordered women to cover their bodies and heads
from view, according to a resident of Baidoa who did not want to be identified
for security reasons. The clothing must be black, red or white, and women in
the impoverished city are concerned that they will not be able to purchase
clothing that conforms to the order, the resident said.
He said women would be jailed if they violated the order
after it goes into effect Tuesday. Somalia's Shabelle Media, quoting an
Al-Shabaab spokesman, said they would spend 12 hours in jail.
Shabelle points out that it is unclear how Al-Shabaab will
enforce its order in Baidoa. The militia has issued similar edicts that failed
to be carried out, according to Shabelle.
But this edict could be bolstered by Somalia's parliament, which voted unanimously
Saturday to allow sharia, or Islamic law, in the Horn of Africa country.
Lawmakers hope to boost President Sharif Ahmed's efforts to defeat Al-Shabaab,
which has vowed to fight the government until sharia is imposed in Somalia.
Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told
Voice of America that parliament's vote "removed any justifications for
any opposition group ... to use Islam for political ends."
There are concerns that Islamic law, which has numerous
interpretations and variations, could lead to government-sanctioned human
rights abuses in Somalia. The strict interpretation of sharia forbids girls
from attending school, requires veils for women and beards for men, and bans
music and television.
Last week, Al-Shabaab fighters patrolling the streets shot
and killed a 20-year-old Somali man because he was not praying at the
designated time, according to a local journalist who cannot be named for
security reasons.
Sharmarke denied that the vote would open the door for a
radical interpretation of Islamic law, such as that carried out by the Taliban
in Afghanistan.
"People always think of the Taliban and Talibanization
of a country. But that isn't the case," the prime minister said. "I
think sharia in Somalia is part of the laws for thousands of years, and we
never had this kind of a thing. Besides, it doesn't have to be that way,
cutting hands."
Under some strict interpretations of sharia, a thief is
punished by having a hand cut off.
Al-Shabaab was once the armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union, which took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. The United States says the group is affiliated with the al Qaeda terrorist network, and it backed an Ethiopian invasion that drove the ICU from power in 2006.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.