Rather, the report attributes such punishments to the lack of the rule of law, ignoring the fact that amputation for theft is a mainstay of Islamic law. This underscores the obvious but crucial point that one man's 'rule of law' is not necessarily equivalent to another's. A great deal depends on whose law, and whose idea of 'justice' is being enforced. And political correctness aside, they are not all basically the same.

'Watchdog condemns amputations in southern Somalia,' from Agence France-Presse, May 14:

NAIROBI (AFP) — Islamist armed groups controlling Somalia's southern city of Kismayo have carried out amputations and unlawful killings, Amnesty International reported Thursday.

The London-based watchdog cited the case of Mohamed Omar Ismail, who one of his hands publicly amputated by local religious leaders as a punishment for allegedly stealing items worth around 90 dollars (65 euros).

Hundreds of residents attended the punishment, which was carried out in a place called 'Freedom Park,' Amnesty's statement said.

'Punishments like amputations and killings illustrate the extent to which violence still substitutes for the rule of law in many areas of Somalia,' said Michelle Kagari, Deputy Director of Amnesty International?s Africa Programme.

The port of Kismayo, Somalia's largest southern city, was seized in August 2008 by a coalition of forces loyal to rebel leader Hassan Turki, and the Shebab, the country's main radical Islamist insurgent organisation.

Turki is listed as a terrorist financier by Washington.

The administration formed there began implementing a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law).

In October, a 13-year-old girl was stoned to death in public by around 50 men on one of Kismayo's main squares. She was accused of adultery by local hardline Islamists after reporting that she had been raped by three men.

Amnesty, which listed several other cases of unlawful punishment over the past year, called on the local authorities to condemn human rights abuses and on the United Nations to establish monitoring mechanisms.