Postby Scarletmoon1 » Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:58 am
A court in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, Saturday afternoon sentenced a Somali man accused of having claimed to be a prophet to two years in prison.
Sheikh Ahmed Abdi was recently arrested while he was telling people that he was prophet Khadir, a prophet Muslims believe is still alive in this world.
Speaking before the court on behalf of the government of Somaliland, Abdirashid Mohamed Hirsi, the district commissioner of Hargeisa, accused Abdi of collecting money from people after telling them rains will not fall in the region for eight months.
“At least seven persons, who witnessed the man, were brought to the court as testimony in order to prove that he did all what he was accused of during seven days period of court hearing,” the district commissioner said.
Witnesses said he also displayed a stick he claimed was holy and sacred. The court ordered the stick to be smashed into pieces.
They also mentioned that he claimed to be Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who is expected to come prior to the Day of Resurrection.
The indicted person, dressed in white, stood at the center of the court during the hearing.
After the sentence was handed down, the defendant denied all charges against him and asked the court to assert he was not guilty. That request was denied.
It is the first such incident to take place in Somalia, although such claims frequently take place in other Arab countries.
On Tuesday,, Muslim faithful who had come to perform Asr prayer at the Grand Mosque in Mecca were shocked when a man snatched the microphone and declared he was the Mahdi.
The imam has just started the prayer when the man grabbed the microphone and made his announcement. Security officers inside the mosque quickly arrested the man, who was said to be an Egyptian national in his 30s.
Security officers took the man to the police station for questioning.
Police deduced the man was suffering from mental problems.
Haha why did he do that? Dumb idoors
