Issa Jemes Mwesiga, who hailed from Tanzania, was executed on Saturday at a square in Jilib town, about 400km south of the capital Mogadishu. He was charged, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death at an Al-Shabaab court over accusations of espionage.
Tanzania’s ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations couldn’t be reached by The Citizen for reaction on the reports, but Al-Shabaab officials said that Mwesiga was fighting alongside “fellow jihadists” before becoming a spy.
“Issa Jemes Mwesiga joined Al-Shabaab in 2013. Unfortunately, he has now been found guilty of spying,” said an Al-Shabaab official who spoke at the square as the Tanzanian jihadist faced a firing squad.
It is not yet clear which group or country the foreign militant was spying for.
Residents in the area, who contacted Somali National News Agency (SONA)—speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons—said they believed that Al-Shabaab militants in the Juba territory have been affected by split loyalties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or IS.
“The foreign jihadist (Mwesiga) was executed by militants led by Ahmed Surad (one of the Al-Shabaab leaders in the area)”, stated a resident as quoted by SONA on Saturday.
Al-Shabaab is reckoned to have a large number of foreign jihadists widely known as al-Mujahedeen al-Muhajereen (migrant jihadists).
Read more: The Citizen