Jan. 13
KENYA:
Al-Shabaab executes ‘Kenyan spy’
Nairobi (RBC) A man said to be a Kenyan fighting for the Al-Shabaab has been
executed by the Somali militant group for alleged espionage.
The Kenya Defence Forces confirmed that the non-Somali Kenyan was stoned to
death by the militants in Kismayu on Tuesday after he was convicted of aiding
Kenyan troops identify their targets in Somalia.
“It is true, he was stoned to death. One of our people filmed the incident and
sent us the pictures which are grisly,” military spokesman Major Emmanuel
Chirchir told the Nation.
According to reports in the Somali press, an Al-Shabaab court found the Kenyan
fighter guilty of spying for the Kenyan troops fighting the militants in the
war-torn nation.
The militants are said to have rounded up hundreds of Kismayu residents to come
and witness the execution, a tactic they normally use to instil fear in the
civilian population.
The victim is said to be one of the Kenyans secretly recruited from Nairobi’s
Majengo area and smuggled into Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab.
The Al-Shabaab jury accused him of leading Kenyan warplanes in bombarding their
bases in Jilib, one of the numerous towns captured by Kenyans last year.
The insurgents had turned against three of their Kenyan fighters and placed
them in custody for allegedly spying for Kenyan forces.
A report released in July last year by the United Nations monitoring group for
Somalia and Eritrea reported that hundreds of impoverished Kenyan youths had
been recruited into the militant group in recent years.
The report identified the Muslim Youth Centre based in Nairobi’s Pumwani estate
as the coordinator of the recruitment.
“In the past, Al-Shabaab’s presence in Kenya has been concentrated primarily
within the ethnic Somali community. But since 2009, the group has rapidly
expanded its influence and membership to non-Somali Kenyan nationals,” it says.
Some of the non-Somali Kenyans said to be fighting inside Somalia include Juma
Ayub Otit Were, Suleiman Irungu Mwangi “Karongo” also known as Habib, Mohamed
Murithi and Ramadan Osao.
Last October, a non-Somali Kenyan, Elgiva Bwire, was jailed for life after
confessing to carrying out 2 grenade attacks in Nairobi.
(source: Daily Nation)
SOUTH KOREA:
South Korean marine gets death for shooting
A South Korean Marine who killed 4 colleagues in a shooting spree after
complaining of bullying has been sentenced to death after a court martial.
The 20-year-old corporal opened fire at a Marine Corps barracks on Ganghwa
island near the North Korean border in July last year before trying to commit
suicide with a grenade.
A Marine private found guilty of helping the corporal was sentenced to 20
years' imprisonment.
The corporal, identified only as Kim, and the private, surnamed Jung, told
military investigators they had hatched their plan after being constantly
bullied and beaten by superiors. Jung denied involvement in the actual
shooting.
Military psychological tests conducted about a year before the shooting spree
found Kim was mentally unstable and struggling to cope with service life. He
had also been drinking before the rampage.
Kim can appeal the sentence. South Korea has not carried out executions since
1997, although the penalty remains on the statute books.
The elite Marine Corps is charged with guarding frontline islands in the Yellow
Sea near the disputed border with the North.
The incident raised questions about standards of discipline and morale in the
largely conscript 650,000-strong military.
In 2005 8 soldiers were killed and 2 seriously wounded when a soldier threw a
grenade and sprayed bullets over sleeping colleagues at a frontline guard post
north of Seoul.
The soldier in the 2005 incident alleged senior colleagues had bullied him.
In 2008 an army private struggling to adapt to military life threw a grenade at
sleeping colleagues, wounding 5.
And in June 2010, two Marines on another frontline island opened fire at a
civilian passenger plane after mistaking the Airbus for a North Korean
intruder. The aircraft was not hit.
Able-bodied South Korean men must undergo at least 2 years' military service,
and some complain of abuse and harassment of junior soldiers by their seniors.
North and South Korea have remained technically at war since their 1950-1953
conflict ended only with an armistice instead of a full peace treaty.
(source: Herald Sun)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
