November 17, 2005

As the Hargeysa regional court delivered heavy sentences ranging between death and life imprisonment to 15 men who were accused of committing murder, banditry and other criminal acts, the general mood may be one of relief and comfort to see justice served to the families of the murdered humanitarian workers.

There is no doubt that the arrest of these suspects, bringing them before a court with a defense lawyer by their side and eventually convicting them portrays Somaliland as a country capable of not only safeguarding its security but also respecting the right of the accused, no matter the gravity of their crimes, to having their day in court. It also shows that unlike many countries in Africa or the third world, Somaliland has no kangaroo courts and military tribunals that pass summary execution sentences without any legal basis.

However, in a young and growing democracy and a country trying hard to attract international attention for its achievements in building democratic institutions and respecting the rule of law, one might question the lack of transparency in the court proceedings and the conclusion of the case in such an unprecedented speed of less than two months.

One may also slam the ruling as an exercise of political expediency dictated by the spur of the moment given the continued poisoned situation of the Horn of African region, particularly the Somali territory, an area the U.S. and international observers accuse of being a breeding ground for terrorism stoked by religious extremism. Somaliland 's burning quest for recognition and its urge to come clean of this enduring stigma may raise some suspicion as to the authenticity of the ruling. The quick conclusion of the case may also deprive the Somaliland government of getting much needed information that a legally extended investigation and questioning of the culprits may otherwise have unearthed.

All this plus the almost undying press revelations of prisoner abuses in many parts of the world, demand that the Somaliland government should use maximum caution in taking the trodden path of terrorism bashing and issuing hasty rulings in an apparent attempt to whitewash its image and to attract international attention.

It must be known to the Somaliland government that any transgressions of human rights or lack of deliberation and transparency in court decisions would only portray it as a pariah state where popular emotions reign supreme over the rule of law. It is also the duty of Somaliland's human right organizations and activists, who failed to raise their voice until now, to investigate the conditions under which confessions have been extracted from the suspects and whether their lawyer has been given all the freedom he needed to communicate with his clients and get access to secret police documents related to the case.

It is the wish of every peace loving human being let alone Somaliland citizens whose image and daily livelihood had been harmed by the brutal killings of the noble lady Annalena Tonelli in Borama and the British teachers Richard and Enid Eyeington in Sheikh in October 2003 as well as the cold blooded murder of the Kenyan aid worker, Flora Chepkemoi, at Hargeysa-Berbera highway in March 2004 to see justice served. However, it would definitely show greatest respect for the dead that no innocent persons should be wrongly convicted and killed for a crime they didn't commit.

Another valid argument that needs to be considered may see that once all possible legal venues are exhausted and these people are found guilty beyond reasonable doubt, a death sentence may not be the most appropriate punishment given the distorted thinking of such fanatics for whom a physical execution might be a wish come true. By giving them death, the court may only be inadvertently granting them what they have been looking for in the first place - martyrdom. A look at the history of the execution of extremists in Arab and Islamic countries certainly gives a stark example of how such physical elimination of religious fanatics only turns them into a much more hardened enemy. It serves as the driving force for hordes after hordes of such breed of people to see death sentences as a short-cut to martyrdom and a generous ticket for them to enjoy the eternal company of the 72 doe-eyed virgin maidens waiting for them in paradise.

© 2005 Awdalnews Network

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