Harsh Sentence for Qaran party leaders

Mandhera, Somaliland, August 25, 2007 (SL Times) – The three Qaran party leaders held in Mandhera prison were convicted by Hargeysa regional court on 20 August 2007 for an array of sedition charges and for illegally forming a political party, according to the prosecution. All three defendants were given a prison sentence of three years and 9 months and a 5 year ban from holding public office.

The three leaders of the Qaran party, Muhammed Abdi Gabose, and his two deputies, Muhammad Hashi Elmi and Jamal Aideed, have been held, since 28 July, in Mandhera prison, near the coastal port city of Berbera. They were charged with "engaging in unauthorized political activities” and “putting the good name of the head of state in disrepute”.

The trial was conducted in Mandhera Police Academy which is located less than 500 meters from where the defendants are held in Mandhera prison.

The defence counsel boycotted the two-day trial because, as they put it, “the Hargeysa regional court has does not have the mandate and the capacity to litigate on matters of constitutional issues, and this case is a matter for the Constitutional and Supreme Court to address”. The defendants added that ‘they had sent to the concerned body their written objections to the case, long before the court trial was scheduled, and that as is the norm, the court judge presiding in this trial, should have cleared with the defence counsel the concerns addressed in their letter to the regional court, prior to the opening of the case and its being tried in court’.

The Hargeysa regional court’s ruling and prison sentence of the Qaran leaders has been widely condemned by the opposition party, Kulmiye, as well as local and international civil organisations.

Source: Somaliland Times