Outside the basketball court.<br /> Death or Play. Women&acute;s Basketball in Mogadishu<br /> Women's basketball? In Europa and the U.S., we take it for granted. But consider this: In Mogadishu, war-torn capital of Somalia, young women risk their lives every time they show up to play.<br /> Suweys, the captain of the Somali women&acute;s basketball team, and her friends play the sport of the deadly enemy, called America. This is why they are on the hit list of the killer commandos of Al Shabaab, a militant islamist group, that has recently formed an alliance with the terrorist group Al Qaeda and control large swathes of Somalia.<br /> <br /> Al Shabaab, who sets bombs under market stands, blows up cinemas, and stones women, has declared the female basketball players &bdquo;un-islamic&ldquo;. One of the proposed punishments is to saw off their right hands and left feet. Or simply: shoot them.<br /> <br /> Suweys&acute; team trains behind bullet-ridden walls, in the ruins of the failed city of Mogadishu &ndash; protected by heavily armed gun-men. The women live in constant fear of the islamist killer commandos. Stop playing basketball? Never, they say.<br /> Women&acute;s basketball in the world&acute;s most dangerous capital. Female basketball in Mogadishu, Somalia.<br />
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