Somali Islamists whip women for wearing bras

Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:35am GMT
 

Abdullahi Hussein, a student in north Mogadishu, said his elder brother was thrown behind bars when he fought back a man who humiliated their sister by asking her to remove her bra.

"My brother was jailed after he wrestled with a man that had beaten my sister and forced her to remove her bra. He could not stand it," Hussein said.

Men were not spared the' moral cleansing'. Any man caught without a beard was been publicly whipped.

"I was beaten and my hair was cut off with a pair of scissors in the street," Hussein said.

"My trouser was also cut up to the knee. They accused me of shaving my beard but I am only 18. They have arrested dozens of men and women. You just find yourself being whipped by a masked man as soon as leave your house."

(Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura)

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