Al Shabaab executes Somali man and teenager for homosexuality

A Somali man and teenager were publicly executed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab on Tuesday for committing a homosexual act.

20-year-old Isak Abshirow and 15-year-old Abdirizak Sheikh Ali were allegedly caught by al Shabaab fighters having gay sex.

The two were shot dead with another man in a field in Buale in the presence of hundreds of civilians.

“The judge read their charges publicly and the three men were found guilty. They were executed according to the Islamic sharia. They were shot dead in Buale town,” Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdalla, a regional governor for al Shabaab was quoted by Reuters.

The third man executed on the day, Saeed Mohamed Ali, was found guilty of spying for Ethiopian troops.

Al Shabaab is fighting against the Western-backed government forces in the country to impose the Islamic sharia law.

Homosexuality is banned in 34 out of the 54 countries in Africa.

South Africa boasts of being the first country in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation when it introduced its new Constitution in 1996.

Homosexuality is punishable by death In Sudan, southern Somalia and northern Nigeria while in Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, offenders can receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts.