Mogadishu October 17 2005 (IOL) - Members of the Al-Furqan Islamic Court in Mogadishu have stormed the ‎premises of Somalia's biggest film dubbing studio and confiscated equipment, witnesses reported on ‎Monday.‎

Abdul Hakeem Haji Shiqey, one of the owners of the studio that dubs popular Bollywood films into the Somali ‎language, said that the assailants assaulted his mother, sisters and wife and took his father hostage.‎ ‎"They also robbed my mother of one thousand dollars and took my wife's gold jewelry," Haji Shiqey added.‎ Computers, an archive of more than 7 000 films and other equipment was destroyed.‎

Earlier in October, Islamic courts warned all cinemas and distributors against showing films during the holy ‎month of Ramadan.‎ No business was being conducted in the studio when the militia aligned to the Islamic Court stormed the ‎building, eyewitnesses said.‎
Islamic court officials confirmed the event but declined to comment further.‎

Mogadishu has a thriving business of more than 800 video kiosks where the city's residents can watch ‎mainly action films for a small fee.‎ The Islamic courts in Mogadishu are clan-based institutions that act as arbitrators in business disputes and ‎criminal cases.‎

Somalia has had neither a functioning central government nor legal system since 1992. - Sapa-dpa

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