A video has emerged of an Egyptian man being publicly executed in a football stadium by an extremist Islam group in the Libyan city of Derna on 19 August.
The group, The Shura Council of Islamic Youth, have allegedly performed what is their second public execution, when they killed a man named Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, after they claimed that he was responsible for the murder of a Libyan man. The first execution by the youth organisation was that of two men, one Libyan and one Egyptian, apparently also for murder.
The video shows Mohamed being transported into the stadium on the back of a large truck, blindfolded and gagged. He is then made to kneel in front of the audience, following which a statement is read out which accuses him of murdering the Libyan man. The deceased’s brother then allegedly is passed a gun, while he is standing behind the now kneeling Egyptian, wearing nothing but ordinary clothes. He then proceeds to shoot the man from behind, in the back of the head.
The video has since received widespread attention, after it was uploaded to various social media sites, including video sharing website, Youtube. The video has been verified as legitimate.
During the execution, the man was surrounded by around 40 masked men, all carrying rifles, most of which were Kalashnikov weapons. They were also all wearing military gear of some kind and one man stood near the centre, displaying the black flag of al-Qaeda. The execution was followed by the sounds of chanting and applause from the many spectators in the football grounds at the time.
Ever since the overthrowing of ruler at the time, Muammar Gaddafi in an uprising which was backed by Nato, the authorities have struggled with rebel insurgents and have not been able to establish law and order in the nation. Violence has become prominent with various armed militant groups each struglling with one another for control of the country.
