Suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen handed out 80 lashes each to five youths they said had taken narcotic pills in the latest show of summary justice in the restive south, witnesses said on Saturday.
The punishment was carried out in a large field in front of dozens of witnesses summoned to watch in the militant-controlled town of Jaar in Abyan province on Friday night.
The five young men were given 80 lashes each and then set free, the witnesses said. Since May, Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken control of several towns in Abyan, including the provincial capital Zinjibar, as 10 straight months of protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime have weakened central government control.
In recent weeks, the militants of the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group have enforced their own very strict interpretation of Islamic justice.
On September 25, the militants severed the hand of a 15-year-old as punishment for stealing electrical cables. He later died from blood loss.