Urgent Alert: Newly Arrested Politician in Somaliland

Office Telephone: 252 2 517269/ 252 24112633/252 2 4409125/25224481219

E-mail: shuro4rights@gmail.com

Hargeisa, Somaliland

Ref/SHURO-Net/ 0300 /07 Date: 29/07/07

Subject: Urgent Alert: Newly Arrested Politician in Somaliland

Somaliland Human Rights Organizations Network SHURO-NET has become conscious that the Somaliland government had arrested three prominent opponent politicians, Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gaboose the chairman of Qaran Political Party, Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi, the Vice Chairman and Mr. Jamal Aydid, the 2^nd Vice-chairman, which took place in Hargeisa, Somaliland on early Sunday morning 28 July 2007. These three politicians have recently established in Somaliland a new unregistered political party called Qaran. According to the facts collected by SHURO-NET human rights monitors Mr. Gaboose was arrested at 8:00 am of 28 July 2007 while Eng. Hashi was detained separately and Mr. Aydid voluntarily handed himself to the police on the same day.

SHURO-NET is deeply concerned by this matter, which is yet another indication of the Somaliland government's use of defamation charges to silence and intimidate its opposition and critics.

SHURO-NET condemns unreservedly the imprisonment of the three citizens and asks that they should be released immediately and without any conditions We call international community who defend democratic principle to urgently intervene into this matter. Please send a letter to the His Excellence Dahir Rayaale Kaahin, and urge him to release the three men from prison and withdraw the charges against them. Please also urge him to encourage the Somaliland government to establish democratic governance and a culture of human rights.

The Executive Director of SHURO-NET, Mr. Mubarik Ibrahim Aar, described the arrest of these three politicians as another step down the wrong path, with little left to a real democracy.

The Executive Director of SHURO-NET, Mr. Aar added to that “The 28 July arrests of these three prominent politicians came as a shock to everyone. These three politicians are currently in prison awaiting further inquiries. Under Somaliland law, persons can be detained pending such inquiries for long periods of time. The conditions of Somaliland prisons are known to be extremely poor and unhygienic”

Mr. Aar concluded his statement to this event “SHURO-NET recognized the detention of these three politicians as a prisoners of conscience, because the government detained them for their political manifestation and practice, SHURO-NET is calling to the president of republic to release these three prisoners of conscience from the jail as soon as possible. On the other hand we call state institutions including the parliament to solve the issue of registration of the new political parts soon.”

The recently conducted democratic election in Somaliland during the last five years was one step towards restoring stability in Somaliland and establishing responsible governance for a people who have undergone one of the worst human rights violations in human history in 1980s. The introduction of liberal democracy through the 1997 Constitution was seen as an encouragement for the people to rebuild their lives and regain their dignity. However, the present attempts to silence critics and reintroduce a fear psychosis will severely undermine the few steps towards democracy and human rights taken by the country.

Yours sincerely,

Mubarik Ibrahim Aar

Executive Director

Somaliland Human Rights Organizations Network