New videos released by Boko Haram on Monday showed a man being stoned to death for committing fornication while another man was also shown being amputated for stealing in the sect’s new “caliphate”.
A third scene shown in the videos posted social video sharing site, YouTube, showed a young men being lashed for allegedly committing adultery.
Leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, in the videos boasted that his men would defeat the regional alliance force that is about to commence operations against them.
He said: “Your alliance will not achieve anything. Amass all your weapons and face us. We welcome you.” He promised to overthrow democracy and entrench Islamic rule in Nigeria and other neighbouring countries. He denied claims by Nigeria that the December 1 attack on Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, was repelled by the military.
“We had a field day in Damaturu, ate and dined, took what we wanted and thereafter drove out of the town at our own volition, with all the vehicles, ammunitions and other things we wanted to take along.”
The punishments meted out to the “citizens” of the new caliphate is an indication that the group is now implementing the sharia legal code in the territories it currently controls. In a particularly disturbing scene, a man was buried in the ground with only his head showing while he was stoned to death by a crowd. He was accused of committing fornication — that is, having sex before marriage.
Hundreds of women and children are shown in the videos, while hundreds of the militants were chanting “Allau Akbar” on the back of trucks. One of the videos also showed the invasion of Damaturu in December 2014.
