Somalia firing squad executes al-Shebab members for nurse's murder

A Somali firing squad has executed two men found guilty of murdering Nafisa Osman, a nurse working in a foreign-funded clinic, officials and relatives said Tuesday.

Isbaheysiga Mosque in Mogadishu Open access/JamesA

Somalia’s military court sentenced Hassan Salman and Shafi Abdi to death by firing squad for the murder of Nafiso Osman, who was a nurse at a Turkish-funded clinic in Mogadishu.

“The military court found that the two men had deliberately killed Nafiso Osman,” the court chairman, Liban Ali Yarow, told RFI.

Abdikarim Ali, a relative member of Nafiso Osman told RFI by phone that the two men broke into her parents’ home in the middle of the night equipped with pistols and forced her to follow them, later shooting her several times in the chest and head.

“As a family member, I believe that justice has been served,” he commented.

The security forces apprehended the assailants soon after they committed the murder, Ali added, and they finally confessed that they had killed Nafiso because they deemed her an apostate working for foreign agency.

Yarow, added that the two men were members of Al-Shebab militia that is fighting the Somalia government.

The execution of murderers is seen by many Somalis as a major deterrent that can boost security in Mogadishu where assassinations have become common occurrences.