Somaliland journalists freed following Somaliland advocacy (30 Apr 2007)

Advocacy by Somaliland Focus (UK) played a part in securing the freedom of three imprisoned journalists in Somaliland at the end of March.

The three journalists, publisher Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, editor Ali Abdi Dini and journalist Muhammad Omar Sheikh Ibrahim from Somaliland's daily newspaper Haatuf, had been arrested and tried on charges of 'insulting the President's family', and the Haatuf Media Network forcibly closed.

Progressio was among the members of Somaliland Focus (UK)  who condemned the trial verdict and sentences, in open letters sent on 11 March to the Somaliland President and to the leaders of Somaliland's political parties . A delegation from the European Commission's Somalia Unit met President Rayaale to protest against the convictions and also met the convicted journalists in Mandheera prison hours before their release.

Somaliland Focus UK's secretary Georgina Barrett said: 'Imprisonment was a grossly disproportionate response lacking either legal basis or credibility, and an inappropriate sanction in a case where the media were accused of 'insulting' the President's family. In addition the prosecution was conducted under an obsolete 1962 penal code instead of the 2004 media law that formally replaced it.'

The open letter from Somaliland Focus to the President, published in Haatuf, said the convictions damaged Somaliland's case for recognition and were a reversal of its progress towards democratisation. It called on Somaliland to reverse the convictions and noted that it made the work of SFUK in promoting the Somaliland case more difficult.

Read a copy of the letters:

letter to President Rayale (36k Word)

letter to Ahmed Mohamed (35k Word)

Somaliland Focus (UK) was established in 2005 to raise awareness of Somaliland's achievements, draw attention to the country's progress towards democratisation, and argue for increased external assistance and cooperation with the Government, Parliament and people of Somaliland.