Sharia law in Somalia district bans co-ed hand shakes, no walking or chatting in public if not married, public flogging will result

1/7/11, "Somalia's al-Shabab bans mixed-sex handshake," BBC

"Men and women have been banned from shaking hands in a district of Somalia controlled by the Islamist group al-Shabab.

Under the ban imposed in the southern town of Jowhar, men and women who are not related are also

• barred from walking together or chatting in public....

The al-Shabab administration said those who disobeyed the new rules would be punished according to Sharia law. The BBC's Mohamed Moalimuu in Mogadishu says the penalty would

• probably be a public flogging.

The militant group has already banned music in areas that it controls, which include most of central and southern Somalia."...

.