NUSOJ
March 04, 2007
Somaliland court handed over on Sunday, 4 March 2007, the directed verdict to Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, the Chairman of Haatuf newspaper, Ali Abdi Dini, Editor-in-Chief of Haatuf and the newspaper's provincial correspondent Mohammed Omar Sheik in their Mandhera prison, although Mohammed Rashid Farah, an investigative journalist, was judged in absentia.
The judgment stated two years sentence for Yusuf Abdi Gabobe and imprisonment of twenty nine months (2 years and 5 months) for Ali Abdi Dini, Mohammed Omar Sheik and Mohammed Rashid Farah. The Somaliland authorities also took out working licence of Haatuf newspaper. The newspaper company received fine of five million Somaliland shillings.
NUSOJ has been condemning the alleged legal action against the journalists and the proceedings of the court. "We condemn this expected and outlawed verdict as calculated move of suppressing press freedom" said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. "Journalists are detained because of their professional and rightful work of independent journalism" he said.
The journalists were accused of defaming President Dahir Rayale's family after publishing serialized reports of corruption by the president's family. "We believe that they exercised their profession independently, and they were completely right to investigate and report on issues of public importance and interest such as the conduct of public officials, corruption, mismanagement or dishonesty in government" said Omar Faruk Osman.
Yusuf Gabobe and Ali Abdi Dini were arrested on 2nd January by the Hargeisa police who assaulted the Haatuf offices without warrant. On 14 January, provincial reporter Mohammed Omar Sheik was arrested in Borame, but was transferred to Hargeisa on 17 January. The three journalists were all transferred to Mandhere Prison.
The Somaliland court used for this case the 1962 penal code and the 1963 criminal procedure code, and completely disregarded the Somaliland's press law, which stated that a journalist cannot be imprisoned because of his/her journalistic work. "It is clear that neither detention of the journalists nor today's verdict is compatible to the Somaliland press law" said Omar Faruk.
Many journalists in Hargeisa believe that President Dahir Rayale, who is currently traveling to Accra, Ghana, would grant pardon to the journalists as he recently told Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA).
The National Union of Somali Journalists joins SOLJA, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network for the ending of this atrocious ruling.
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Source: NUSOJ, Mar 05, 2007