Somali rebels ban musical ringtones on phones

By Sahra Abdi

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Sacdiyo Sheeq used to love listening to Bollywood movie songs on her mobile telephone.

But since hardline al Shabaab insurgents seized the southern Somali port of Kismayu, the 25-year-old's life has changed.

"Al Shabaab wants our ringtones to be only a Muslim cleric reading the Hadith or Koranic verse," she told Reuters.

"I used to listen to my favourite Indian songs on my cell phone, but now I have just thrown that memory away."

Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, wants to topple the U.N.-backed government and impose its own strict version of Sharia law.

The heavily armed group controls much of the south and parts of the capital Mogadishu, and courts run by its clerics have ordered executions, floggings and amputations in recent months.

It has also banned movies, dancing at wedding ceremonies and playing or watching soccer in the areas under it control.

"We do not tolerate anything that may corrupt the people," al Shabaab's spokesman in Kismayu, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, told Reuters by telephone. "We don't allow anything that goes against our religion, especially music and sexy videos."