The second picture shows a group of henchmen with hidden faces hurling massive rocks at the man’s upper torso. We have been spared the horror of seeing the smashed head of the man but the end result is obvious.
This is not the first time that a human being is subjected to such a barbaric act of medieval lynching in Somalia. A 13 old girl had suffered a similar fate in Kismayo several months ago. The two were supposedly guilty of committing adultery, a crime that is difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt. Even Saudi Arabia has stopped killing people with rocks in this barbaric fashion. Since the Prophet Mohammad urges us to be merciful when slaughtering animals by using sharp knives that severe the jugular vein quickly to avoid prolonged suffering, I cannot understand why the murderers in these pictures fail to apply the same logic to human beings, a higher life form. It seems that their twisted brains fail to reconcile seemingly conflicting edicts in Islam, the need to punish and the need to be merciful. To them, the need to reform archaic punishment methods in the light of modern ways of ending lives mercifully is equivalent to heresy and anyone who advocates that would probably deserve death by beheading.
It may be difficult to make the connection between the Samatar Case and the two pictures, but if you think hard and look closer, the two are inseparable in my humble opinion.
Samatar is on trial for torturing a Somali man more than two decades ago. The perpetrators in the pictures are torturing and killing Somalis in droves today while we all watch helplessly in horror. It seems that even the World Organizations responsible for monitoring and reporting such atrocities are slow in reacting and are never pro-active in their campaign to eradicate such practices from the modern world. As an afterthought, the US where Samatar is on trial, knew what was happening in Somalia in the 1980’s and may even had blessed the atrocities committed by the Somali Regime to woe it away from the Soviet orbit of influence.
The US Justice System has spent thousands of tax –payer funds to try an aging man on dialysis while it ignores the daily torture and murder of thousands of Somalis. Justice is age blind and I am not implying to absolve Samatar of any crime he may have committed based on his age or health status. But the priorities here seem to be misplaced. The US Supreme Court does not care about Somalia and it is only looking at this case because it may open the door for trying Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for crimes against the Iraqi and Afghan people. Reports of the Fallujah massacres are filtering out and are starting to haunt the American people. Birth defects as a result of the type of weapons used to subdue the city are on the rise. There is no doubt that the verdict will be in Samatar’s favor to avoid setting precedents for taking US citizens to court in the future. The principle of sovereign immunity will have precedence and Samatar will spend the rest of his life in peace in a country that his regime once labeled as the enemy of the Somali people during the heyday of Scientific Socialism in Somalia.
Samatar may or may not be guilty of giving the order to torture Yusuf. But he and his fellow SRC members are guilty of what is happening in Somalia today. The thugs who wrongly use Islam to torture, maim and kill Somalis today are the by-product of the policies of the Regime that Smatar was a member of for more than 20 years.
Ahmed Suleiman Dafle, M. Ali Samatar, Ismail Ali Abokor and the other surviving SRC members are all guilty and should be put on trial in a Somali Court of Justice.
· They are guilty of shoving an alien dogma, Scientific Socialism, down our throats for two decades.
· They are guilty of reneging on their promises to bury tribalism for good.
· They are guilty of destroying the powerful Somali Army by waging a war that they knew would be difficult to win after the Soviet Union, their only source of weapons, asked them not to wage such a war and withdrew its support.
· They are guilty of not taking over the helms of power when Siad Barre lost his mental faculties in a freak accident in 1986. They are guilty of allowing a sick man, Siad, to rule through an inept inner circle composed of his closest relatives.
· They are guilty of watching passively when what was left of the Somali Army was dealt a final blow by replacing its top officers with illiterate thugs.
· They are guilty of running away like rabbits to all corners of the world when clan-based militias stormed the capital city and the age of the War-Lords began.
As Somalis, we should look at the Samatar case impartially. We should not defend Samatar because he is from a disadvantaged clan as some may like to argue, thus insulting the man who cannot be associated with any clan, being a national figure who reached the highest echelons of power through merit and hard work.
The Samatar case in my opinion should serve as a deterrent for aspiring Somali Dictators and to those who are torturing, maiming and killing Somalis today. The message here is that no one is beyond the law and that those who commit crimes against Humanity can be tried anytime, anywhere.
At the same time, Samatar should not be used as an escape goat for all the crimes that took place under the Siad Regime. Rayale and some of his Ministers, General Galal, and many others should also be taken to task. They were members of the old regime and may have played different roles in the events that led to the collapse of a great country and a great nation. Let us not forget the leaders of the clan-based movements who used the ugly clan card to incite their constituents to revolt against the regime instead of appealing to our nationalism and patriotism to get rid of a dying regime. Silanyo and Abudlla Yusuf fall into that category. They collaborated with Somalia’s arch enemy to destroy their country and they deserver to be tried for high treason.
The Somali singer, Sado Ali Warsame who stood up to the tyranny of the Somali Regime, may be right in defending Samatar today and demanding that all those involved in the Somali regime be brought to justice and not Samatar alone who happens to be in a country that allows trials for crimes against humanity.
Before bringing all those involved in the demise of the Somali Nation to justice, let us all work towards reclaiming our country from a bunch of religious zealots who are leading us down a path of self destruction.
I conclude with words of the Somali Bard and his old teacher who inspired it all:
THE MAIN CONTRIBUTION MANKIND MAKE
TO THEIR RELIGION
IS
THAT THEY DEGRADE IT,
THAT THEY DEMEAN IT,
THAT THEY ENDANGER IT,
THAT THEY MAKE IT
INTO A RELIGION FOR WINGNUTS & WORSE;
THEY FINALLY DESTROY IT BY SHITTING ON IT.
"DON'T FORGET, KID, ANYBODY CAN MAKE
SHIT OUT OF BEAUTY;
IT TAKES GREAT COURAGE TO MAKE
BEAUTY OUT OF SHIT."
WE SOMALIS,
ALL OF US,
HAVE MADE SHIT
OUT OF OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAM
OUT OF OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
OUT OF OUR BEAUTIFUL SECOND MOTHER
OUT OF OUR BEAUTIFUL SOMALIA.
WITNESS FOR YOURSELVES WHAT WE HAVE SHAT:
Mohamed Siad Togane
Ali H Abdulla
[email protected]