Nov 16, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A spokesman for a Somali Islamic group says they have publicly whipped 32 tradional dancers because it is “Un-Islamic” for men and women to dance together.
Abdirahim Isse Addow says officials of the Council of Islamic Courts on Saturday flogged the dancers in the southern town of Balad. The town is 30 ilometers (19 miles) north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Witness Abdalla Hussein Yahya says 24 of the dancers were women.
For almost two years Islamic fighters have waged a vicious insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians in Mogadishu. They now control of much of southern Somalia. But the Islamists are not united, unlike in 2006 when they operated as one.
