Militiamen loyal to Somalia’s Islamic courts raided cinemas, switched off the generators and expelled audiences watching the World Cup, before announcing that showing Western films in public had been banned, officials said on Monday.
A day before Islamic Sharia law took effect in Jowhar, about 90km north of Mogadishu, heavily armed Islamic fighters, led by the notoriously hard-line Sheikh Abu Muslim, shut down all public cinema halls until further notice, effectively barring public watching of World Cup matches.
“We ordered all the cinema halls in Jowhar to close temporarily. In principle, we are against watching of Western films, but we shall consult to see if we can allow watching of the remaining matches in the World Cup,” said Sheikh Ali Hassan of the Joint Islamic Courts.
He said the ban, at the moment, applied to public cinema and not household televisions. But not all residents own TVs and satellite dishes to relay the matches from Germany.
Jowhar’s football fans reacted furiously.
“If the situation continues like this, we shall demonstrate against it,” protested Bashir Ali (25).
“We do not like these Islamists because they are banning us from watching football. We welcomed them warmly after they chased away the warlords, but what they are doing now is unacceptable,” added Yusuf Mohamed.
On Sunday, Islamic leaders in the capital Mogadishu issued a special waiver to allow watching of the World Cup, a week after they barred the tournament, saying some of its elements, notably alcohol advertisements, were evil.
The bar had prompted violent protests in which two people were shot dead.
But the hardliners, who routed United States-backed secular warlords from the capital earlier this month, retained a ban on films that show “pornography, drug dealing and any form of evil”, after much negotiating with cinema owners and residents.
In the past two weeks gunmen loyal to the Islamic Courts have routed the warlords from Mogadishu and Jowhar after four months of clashes that killed at least 360 people and wounded about 2Â 000.
Last year, the courts started to close cinema halls, arguing that they were showing productions of both Bollywood and Hollywood, which contravened their strict interpretation of Islamic teachings.
Somalia pulled out of international sporting events after the country plunged into anarchy following the violent ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. — AFP