Mogadishu, Somalia - A court run by an extremist Islamic group sentenced four Somali men on Monday to each have a hand and a leg cut off for allegedly stealing mobile phones and guns. The ruling prompted an outcry from human rights activists.
The court that handed down the sentence in Somalia's capital is run by al-Shabab, one of the nation's most powerful insurgent groups. The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies. The group, which controls much of Somalia, is trying to drive out the government and install a strict form of Islam.
"We have convicted them of theft, so they deserve to have their arms and legs amputated," said Sheik Abdul Haq, the al-Shabab judge in the capital, Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab has carried out amputations and other punishments elsewhere in Somalia, but they are rare in the capital.
Amnesty International appealed to al-Shabab not to carry out the "cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments.