A member of the radical Islamic group al-Shabaab has announced that two kidnapped French security agents will be tried under Islamic Sharia law. The two men were seized last week and are accused of conspiracy against Islam. Experts fear such a trial could lead to the executions of the foreign nationals.

The two French security officials were in Somalia to train members of the defence ministry. They were posing as journalists, and had only been in the country several days when their covers were blown. Last Tuesday, gunmen snatched the two agents from their hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, and smuggled them out of the city. 

Valuable targets
Somalia’s Social Affairs Minister Mohammed Ali Ibrahim has said that the men are in good health but that there is reason for concern and a need for “strong action.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s chief of staff, Claude Guéant, said Friday that the two are not believed to be in imminent danger. The French and Somali governments are negotiating their release, but have warned that the bargaining could take time. Kidnapping has become commonplace in Somalia since the last central government fell in 1991. Foreign nationals are especially valuable targets, as the militants can use them to extort higher ransoms. Minister Ibrahim said that the militants may wish to exchange the hostages for Somali pirates jailed in France. 

Trial under Islamic law
Tensions heightened today when an al-Shabaab official announced that the French agents will be tried under Islamic Sharia law. Sharia is a legal framework within which aspects of both public and private life are governed by strict principles of Islamic faith. Islamic law is actually quite common in the world, but the al-Shabaab in Somalia have their own stringent version of Sharia. Jort Hemmer of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael says that trial under Sharia law in Somalia may mean the lives of the French agents are in jeopardy:

“We know that al-Shabaab has a rather strict interpretation of Sharia law. In the past, they have cut off hands and feet of people who were accused of stealing… So, in the worst case, this could mean that they will execute the death penalty.”

There is also the question whether the two Frenchmen will receive a fair trial.  The al-Shabaab spokesperson said they will be “tried and punished under the Sharia law.”  The statement seems to assume the two security officials will be found guilty. 

Government involvement
Mr Hemmer points out that the two Frenchmen represent “quite a catch for al-Shabaab.” It remains unclear how al-Shabaab knew the two men were French agents as opposed to journalists, but some are speculating that members of the Somali transitional government were involved in the kidnapping. Mr Hemmer says he has had reports that government workers orchestrated the kidnapping and then handed the hostages over to militants. He believes the kidnappings may have been motivated by frustration at the failure of the Somali government to pay all of its employees, especially the armed forces:

“In Somalia, when you talk about the army or security services… There’s not a single command structure.  So it’s quite possible that there are troops fighting alongside the government, who didn’t get paid, got frustrated and then decided to act this way to pressure the government...”

It is not clear whether members of the Somali government carried out the kidnapping, but these types of incidents are bound to continue so long as Somalia’s government is too weak to exercise control over its sovereign territory.

Listen to interview with Somalia expert Jort Hemmer from the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael.