By BosNewsLife Africa Service
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (BosNewsLife)— Islamic militants in Somalia have publicly killed a woman because she embraced Christianity, BosNewsLife learned Tuesday, January 25.
Open Doors USA, which supports Christians persecuted for their faith, said fighters of the feared Al Shabaab group slit the throat of 36-year old Asha Mberwa “because of her faith in Christ” on January 7. The incident happened in front of villagers in Warbhigly village, on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Open Doors USA said.
Mberwa is survived by her children – ages 12, 8, 6 and 4 – and her husband, who was not home at the time she was apprehended, according to rights investigators.
The attack came two days after Al Shabaab militants, who control large parts of Mogadishu, monitored a conversation in which she apparently said she had become a Christian.
Her husband Abdinazir Mohammed Hassan already wanted to move the family out of the area because of his wife’s fears that their lives were threatened, Christians said.
CHILDREN TRAUMATIZED
Somalian Christians said her children, traumatized by their mother’s violent death, continue to weep and cry out for her.
Al Shabaab insurgents have embarked on a campaign to rid the country of its hidden Christian population.
The group seeks to impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, throughout the troubled nation. Several Christians have been killed in the country.
Al Shabaab, which is believed to have ties with al Qaeda, has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments.
However the transitional government in Mogadishu, fighting to retain control of the country, treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab insurgents do, Open Doors USA commented.
“While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.”
Somalia is in the number five position on Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries where it claims persecution of Christians is most severe.
