Somali woman is flogged for drugs

A Somali woman has been flogged in public for selling cannabis by Islamist militias who now control the capital.

This is the first time a woman has received this kind of punishment since the Union of Islamic Courts seized Mogadishu in June. She got 11 lashes.
Arrested for a small bundle of the drug worth $1, she pleaded innocence while being beaten, AP news agency reports.
Most sellers of the mild narcotic khat, widely used in Somalia, are women but the UIC has not opposed this trade.
The BBC's Hassan Barise in Mogadishu says women often sell khat because during the long civil war, they aroused less suspicion than men when crossing between areas controlled by rival factions.
The UIC was set up two years ago by businessmen who wanted some law and order. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Click here to read more