Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 3, 2008 (SL Times) – The wife of Abshir Hassan Hashi said that the police who are holding her husband refused to give him the food that she brought him, and that she was harassed when she delivered dinner to the Hargeysa Central Police Station yesterday evening.

Mr. Abshir’s wife Muhubo Saleban Farah complained that during his arrest the police hit him with the butts of their guns and injured his kdney. She added that the police refused to let him get medical attention, and she had not seen him since he was arrested on May 1 st 2008. Mrs Muhubo added that she heard of her husband’s injuries through other people who were able to meet him in his cell.

Mr. Abshir worked for the President for a long time. Later, when he resigned his post, he publicly confirmed the veracity of the series of articles that appeared in Haatuf newspaper about corruption and embezzlement of public funds by the presidential household. Muhubo Saleban Farah, too, used to work for the first lady Huda Barkhad in the presidential palace and left the job around the same time as her husband.

Complaining bitterly about police behavior, Muhubo Saleban Farah said, “When I tried to deliver dinner to my husband yesterday evening I was refused to entry to the police station or food to be carried to the cell, then I waited hoping that an officer might be kind enough to take the food off me. When the head of the police station, Mr. Mohamed Asse, came out and asked me why I was there, I told him that I brought food for Abshir and he took the food off me and entered the station. I felt relieved, but he immediately came back shouting at me, ‘take your food and get out’ and he pushed me on the side and announced an order to the rest of the police officers there saying no one should take food from me and never to let her me enter the police station. He also insulted me.”

Muhubo Farah finally made a plea, through Somaliland Times, for her husband’s freedom. Addressing President Dahir Rayale Kahin, she said, “I am the wife of Abshir whom the police chief Saqadhi Dubad accused of making false statements about the president’s household, but this was over one year and half ago, and I don’t know why that complaint is still in place. Mr. President, harassment, torture, arbitrary arrest and police brutality, were all associated with the previous fascist Siyad Barre’s government, no need to do the same here again because we all know how it ended. Mr. President, you should inform your police officers how to behave with the people; particularly women and children that their husbands are in custody should not be pushed and that they should not be shoved and dragged by police personnel. If these things continue you will not be able to win people’s heart and minds”.

Somaliland Times made several attempts to contact the Hargeisa police, unfortunately, they were not available for comment.

Source: Somaliland Times

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