Sheik Urges Death for Nonobservant

A leading sheik said Friday that Muslims who do not pray five times a day should be put to death.

The sheik’s statement, which he confirmed to Reuters after it was broadcast on local media, caused consternation among residents and is expected to fuel Western fear that the Islamist militias that recently seized the capital are planning a hard-line Taliban-style rule.

“He who does not perform prayer will be considered as infidel and our Sharia law orders that person to be killed,” said Sheik Abdallah Ali, who runs a Sharia, or Islamic law, court here in the capital, where the militias took control last month.