Somali militants threaten World Cup TV viewers

[klr]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10307512.stm

Somali militants threaten World Cup TV viewers

Somali militants have threatened football fans they will be publicly flogged - or worse - if they are caught watching the World Cup on TV.

Gangs of Islamists are reported to be patrolling the areas they control looking for people watching games.

Dedicated fans are watching matches in secret, or in the few areas controlled by government forces.

On Saturday militants killed two people as they attacked a house where people were watching a game.

Militant group Hizbul-Islam also arrested 10 others at the house north-east of the capital Mogadishu where fans were watching the game between Argentina and Nigeria.

'Mad men'

A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros said the rest of Somalia should respect their ban on the World Cup.

"We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches. It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down," he said.

One broadcaster has moved their operations to the fortified airport to protect their equipment from attack during the tournament.

Dedicated football fans have few safe places to go if they want to watch Africa's first World Cup, with the al-Qaeda inspired group al-Shabab also announcing a ban.

A cinema in the small part of the capital Mogadishu controlled by the government has become a popular place for football fans.

One man, who lives in the militant-controlled livestock market area of the city told the BBC he was watching Algeria v Slovenia at home with his family.

"I have one eye on the TV and the other on the door, and the sound turned down," he said.

'Enemies of Islam'

The ban dates back to a law that was introduced by the Islamic Courts Union who took control of much of Somalia for six months in 2006.

It bans Somalis from all forms of entertainment considered un-Islamic under the courts' strict interpretation of Sharia law, like video games and watching sports in public.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan says few individual Somalis can afford to have a satellite TV, so such public screenings are often the only way matches can be seen.

In the Juba Valley rebel militias went further, saying young men should not watch football - even in the privacy of their own homes - because it would "distract them from pursuing holy jihad."

A private broadcaster moved its equipment from the rebel-held Bakara market to the heavily protected airport so it can continue broadcasting, news agency Reuters reported.

They had to do it under the cover of darkness for fear of attack, they said.

Television was already under attack from the Islamist militants.

Al-Shabab has declared Universal TV "enemies of Islam" because they allegedly broadcast pictures of the prophet Muhammad.

Al-Shabab has already banned radio stations from playing music and threatened several radio stations.

The Islamic Courts Union was driven out by Ethiopian-backed government forces.

But since then rebel groups like al-Shabab have taken control of the south of Somalia and much of Mogadishu.

The government, backed by African Union peacekeepers, controls only a small area of the capital.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

They can kill anybody with a fucking horn that goes near a stadium as far as I'm concerned.

[Feck]

Will they come over here and shut down Big Brother please ..

Still what a bunch of Twat's

[klr]

"Not quite the responses that I was expecting ..."

[Pensioner]

They can kill anybody with a fucking horn that goes near a stadium as far as I'm concerned.

I agree with you 100% they should ban the fucking things.

[Animavore]

Bunch of malevolent bullies. I guess fun is a sin.

[Pensioner]

"Not quite the responses that I was expecting ..."

[klr]

This line in particular caught my eye:

"We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches. It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down," he said.

Unlike, say, those crazed calm and rational Islamic militia law-enforcers ...

[Deep Sea Isopod]

They can kill anybody with a fucking horn that goes near a stadium as far as I'm concerned.

I agree with you 100% they should ban the fucking things.

[quisquose]

It seems that exerting power over others, by preventing them from doing the things that they most enjoy ... sex, music, drink, dancing, food or even just watching a football game ... just gives some nasty shits one big hard on.

Religion is misery porn.

[JimC]

Words fucking fail me...

[Toontown]

Can't someone just kill them?

No, don't look at me, I'm too old. And my country is busy killing other Islamofascist scum. Surely there are some countries somewhere that could go kill them.

The lack of anyone willing to kill such scum will have grave consequences eventually. The consequences are already quite grave in the areas they control.

[devogue]

It's the worst World Cup ever.

I'd rather watch a good stoning.