Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 10, 2007 (SL Times) – The detained Haatuf journalists who have been held in detention since 2 January 2007 by the CID in Hargeysa have been transferred to the Mandera High Security prison in Sahil region. Yusuf Abdi Gabobe Somaliland Times editor who is also the chairman of Haatuf Media Network ( HMN) and Ali Abdi Dini the editor of Haatuf daily newspaper were taken along with Mohamed Omar (Haatuf reporter for Awdal region who has been confined to solitary detention for the past 3 weeks in Koodbuur police station) to Mandera prison last Sunday (4 Feb), situated 92 km north east of Hargeysa in Sahil region.

The three Haatuf journalists were scheduled to appear in Hargeysa Regional court at 9 am on 4 February, but instead were taken to Mandera prison without the pre-knowledge of their lawyers and their families. Most people in the country as well as the family of the journalists heard of the transfer through the 5 p.m news broadcast of the Somali section of the BBC.

The lawyer of the journalists told Somaliland Times that he was not informed by the CID or court officials of the transfer of his clients to Mandera prison. He said, “I see this new development as another proof of the government's determination to flout all the laws pertinent to the case of Haatuf journalists.” The lawyer added, “I see the journalists as political prisoners of conscience and the government as the aggressor.”

Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, Somaliland Times editor said to one local reporter who had come to see him: “it makes no difference whether we are taken to Mandera prison or to the last place on the earth because first all, our detention is illegal and our transfer to this or that place makes no difference to us.”

Yusuf Gabobe continued, “Dahir Rayale will not be left untouched by the law. He will eventually have to face and pay for the misery and crimes that he has committed against the people of Somaliland.” He added, “Many people of stature have spoken to the president concerning our illegal detention, but all was in vain because Dahir Rayale has made up his mind to break the law.”

Gabobe concluded by saying, “I am not surprised that he is behaving like this because I know he is a dictator at heart, and the only difference between him and the former dictator Siyad Barre is that Siyad Barre was a southerner whom we did not know, but Dahir Rayale is an enemy from within our community and we unknowingly trusted him thinking that he is one of us, when in reality he is every bit the same as Siyad Barre.”

Meanwhile, lawyers of the journalists have been asked to attend on 14 February the Supreme Court hearing for their appeal against the Hargeysa Regional Court's decision to apply the 1962 penal code of Somalia in the trial of the three Haatuf journalists.

Source: Somaliland Times

Past news items relating to this story in Somaliland Times:

Somaliland Daily’s Imprisoned Executives Move To Provincial Jail

Paris, February 7, 2007 – Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its appeal to the authorities in the northern breakaway state of Somaliland to release three newspaper journalists who have been held for several weeks and have just been moved from the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa to a provincial prison.

SNM Veterans Demand The Release Of Haatuf Journalists

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 3, 2007 (SL Times) – SNM veterans called on the government to release the detained Haatuf journalists on Thursday.

Two Ex-Combatants Arrested For Attending Veterans Meeting

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 3, 2007 (SL Times) – Two ex-combatants who fought for the Somali National Movement's liberation struggle against Somalia's late dictator Siyad Barre in the 1980s, were arrested in Hargeysa by the Somaliland police.