From Lord Avebury P0702112
Tel 020-7274 4617
Email ericavebury@gmail.com
Blog ericavebury.blogspot.com
November 2, 2007
Dear Lord Malloch Brown,
Further to our correspondence about the detention of the Qaran Political Association leaders in Somaliland (your ref 49311/2007), I enclose a copy of a letter from the Chair of ShuroNet, the umbrella organisation of human rights organisations in Somaliland, to President Riyale.
You have already remonstrated with the authorities in Somaliland on these detentions and pointed out that donors were relying on progress towards democracy being maintained. Unfortunately, the three Qaran leaders are still being detained, and are being pressurised to apply for a pardon, when they haven’t been convicted of any offence, and continue to assert that the formation of a political association is within the law. I would be grateful if you could let me know what response you had to that demarche.
The government have now escalated the crisis by rigging a meeting of ShuroNet with non-members who purported to hold an extraordinary AGM and to elect government officials who were not even members of the organisation, see attached article from the Somaliland Times and copy of a statement by Mr Michael Walls, Chair, Somaliland Focus (UK). This is presumably their response to the above-mentioned letter from the Chair.
These repressive acts are damaging the good reputation Somaliland was acquiring as a bastion of order, human rights, democracy and the rule of law, on which so much international good will has been accumulated. It will be a tragedy for the people of Somaliland if the government dissipates the fund of support, and of future benevolence, built up over the last 15 years. Would you consider, with our EU partners, appointing a Special Representative, to visit Hargeisa and convey this message to President Riyale?
Yours sincerely,
The Rt Hon the Lord Malloch-Brown,
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
London SW1A 2AH.
Ref/SHURO-Net/ 0326 /07 Date: 17/10/07
To: H.E. Dahir Rayale Kahin
President of the Republic of Somaliland
Hargeisa
Somaliland
Og: All Human Rights Organizations in/outside Somaliland
Og: All Free Press in/outside Somaliland
Subject: Violations of Human Rights of the Government of Somaliland and the Detention of Qaran Political Association leaders
The umbrella organization Shuro-net is the umbrella of all the human rights organizations in Somaliland, which come from all the regions of the country. The main objective of Shuro-net is the development and protection of all the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Somaliland Constitution and the Instruments of the Universal Human Rights.
Considering this lofty ideal, Shuro-net aims this press release to help stop and prevent the violations of the Somaliland Government against human rights and to avoid any thing that can affect the peacefulness of Somaliland.
Knowing the postponement of the Local Government elections, Shuro-net, carefully following the human rights situation and watching the progress of the democracy taking root in Somaliland, is worried when it examined deeply the increasing violations of human rights of the Somaliland Government. This can have a serious effect on the nations’ request for recognition and wide spread justice in Somaliland.
In that case, when the Security Committees lead any one they want to gaol without bringing one to court of justice which is a violation of the law of the land; when the national judiciary is not independent of the Executive Branch of the Government; when the citizen who talks against the Government is arrested without any crime committed; when the freedom of the press does not really exist in the country, at the same time the Somaliland Government uses one of the most draconian laws in the world to harass its citizens; when the Government refuses people the right to demonstrate peacefully under the pretext of keeping the peace; when the supporters of Qaran Political Association are arrested without any court warrant; when you add to this the illegal detention of Qaran Political Association leaders who are still languishing in Mandera Prison, how can Somaliland claim it is a democratic country that respects human rights.
Detention without trial
Generally, in all the prisons of Somaliland are kept many people who were not brought before a court of justice, but the National and Regional Security Committees applied for their detention the so-called Public Order Law which the previous Parliament abolished with a strong vote in the middle of 1999.
On 12/10/07 at around 7 A.M. the police in Burao arrested and took to the central prison Mr. Muhyadin Mursal Abdi Gabose and Mr. Ali Mohamoud Habi nicknamed “Ali-Babur”. No legal process what so ever was followed for the arrest of these two elders who are members of the Gabose family.
Shuro-net, referring to Article 9 (1) of the International Law of Civil and Political Rights, which says that no one can be unlawfully arrested or detained, no one can be deprived of one’s liberties without due process of law; also referring to Article 9 of the Universal Human Rights and Article 25 (2) of the Somaliland Constitution, strongly condemns these illegal arrests by Somaliland Government authorities.
Like wise, the detention of the two elder, Mursal Abdi Gabose and Ali-Babur caused armed violent youths to storm the Burao Central Police Station to free the detainees. This incident between the police and the youths in which fire arms were exchanged caused the following deaths and injuries to people:
- Dama Abdi Jama – dead
- Farah Ali Mohamed – dead (police man)
- Suldan Mohamed Ajab – injured
- Hassan Said Sarwel – injured
- Mohamed Hassan Aideed – injured
- Bidar Muse Weyd – injured (police man)
- Faysal Ali Damal – injured
It is not the first time the Somaliland Government arrested the supporters of Qaran Political Association, but as is clear in the Human Rights Register, the Somaliland Government arrested on the night of 10 October 2007 Mr. Mahdi Jama Omer and Mr. Mohamed Abdi Jibril who did not do any crime while the police were not carrying any warrant of arrest. Shuro-net is against the unlawful arrest of civilians without due process of law. We also don’t support the people to take the law into their own hands, which can endanger the existence of Somaliland.
The detention of the leaders of Qaran Political Association
The leaders of Qaran Political Association were taken to Mandera Prison on 28 July 2007, when the Government accused them of having formed an illegal political party that violates the Constitution. Shuro-net, the human rights umbrella that closely and carefully followed this case, has confirmed the arrest of these leaders was against the justice and human rights guaranteed by the Somaliland Constitution. The President of Somaliland, H. E. Dahir Rayale Kahin has made it conditional for the release of the three leaders Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabose, Engineer Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Mr. Jamal Aideed Ibrahim, who are detained for their believe, to ask for his pardon. Shuro-net sees this demand for a pardon to be an obstacle being put in front of the political rights of the leaders of Qaran Political Association as well as the execution of the agreement between the President and National Councils that resulted from the mediation of the Voluntary Committee that settled the nagging differences between the National Government Councils. For this reason, Shuro-net is calling the Government of Somaliland to restore to the leaders of Qaran Political Association their freedom earliest possible, and to settle the differences with them through dialogue and understanding.
Advice
Shuro-net is calling the Government of Somaliland to:
- Release as soon as possible with out condition all detainees in Somaliland prisons that kept there with out the order of a court of law.
- Restore to the leaders of Qaran Political Association their freedom as soon as possible.
- Stop the unlawful arrest of citizens and instead to follow the due process of law to detain people.
- Must bring before the law all government officers and functionaries of law enforcement agencies in Somaliland who commit violations against human rights and stop them, as happens now, to use the national uniforms as the shields to cover their bad deeds.
Zamzam Abdi Adan Mubarik Ibrahim Aar
Chairperson Shuro-net Director Shuro-net
Somaliland Times
Government Led “Coup D'état” against Shuro Net
Issue 301
| Thursday's Shuro-Net press conference |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 27, 2007 (SL Times) – An extraordinary annual general meeting (AGM) held in Ambassador hotel by the local human rights umbrella group “Human Rights Organizations Network” (SHURO-net) was said to have elected a new chairman, vice-chairwoman and secretary general as the group’s board of directors.
The meeting was opened by the government minister of Family Affairs, Fatuma Sudi Hassan and was addressed and attended by government ministers and various departmental ministry heads and officials from the State National Human Rights Commission. The main government and independent media organizations were also present to cover the meeting.
Shuro-net is the biggest human rights organization in the country, an umbrella group made up of 70 local NGOs working/involved in human rights issues in all parts of Somaliland’s six regions. An organization of this size and magnitude holding an extraordinary AGM is bound to attract the attention and interest of the government, civil society and the local media. What was unusual in this meeting was that the group’s board of directors and executive committee were not present. Moreover, the group’s 70 member-organizations were not present in Wednesday’s extraordinary AGM in Ambassador Hotel.
The meeting was even made more bizarre by the fact that it was chaired by the vice-chair of the national state-government Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Lul Hassan who is not a member of the umbrella group of members. Furthermore, the so-called newly elected chair of the new board of directors is Mr. Abdillahi A Omar (Wayab), a current employee of the ministry of information and heads the Somaliland National News Agency which falls under the ministry of information’s authority. Mr. Omar Wayab is not a member of Shuro-net. He took part in the meeting as representing ‘Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA)’, an organization belonging to one of the group’s lists of member organizations. Despite the fact that SOLJA has refuted Mr. Omar’s claim in the media and said that he ‘did not represent the organization’, nonetheless, he was elected to the board chairmanship in the name of SOLJA.
The heavy presence of local police contingents in and around the Ambassador Hotel’s grounds during Wednesday’s extraordinary AGM added to the unreal and puzzling aspects of the meeting.
The government’s involvement in organizing Wednesday’s meeting was obvious and it shows the extent to which the government will go in silencing organizations critical of its policies and conduct.
The government, particularly the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Family Affairs and the national Human Rights Commission all played a part in organizing Wednesday’s (Shuro-net) extraordinary AGM and orchestrated the entire event in order to get rid of the present Shuro-net board of directors and its executives.
On Thursday, Shuro-net board of directors and its executive committee members held a press conference in the organization’s headquarters in Hargeysa to prove the fake nature of Wednesday’s Ambassador Hotel meeting. Shuro-net board of directors and executive officers that were present at the press conference were: Mrs. SamSam Abdi (Shuro-net’s chair of the board of directors), Mr. Mubarik Ibrahim Aar (Executive Director), Mr. Muhamad Abdalla (Executive Committee Member), and Mr. Ibrahim H. Muse (Executive Coordinator).
The board and executive members of Shuro-net said that at first they had their suspicions that the government was behind the recent fake documents that were circulated to the organization’s members during the past fortnight informing them of Wednesday’s extraordinary AGM.
“All our member-organizations called us to find out the cause and purpose behind the sudden scheduled extraordinary AGM and were perturbed when we informed them that we were not aware of this extraordinary AGM notices, and that emails and letters purporting to be from Shuro-net’s officers from the group’s headquarters in Hargeysa are forgeries,” said Muhamad Abdalla, a member of the executive committee.
Shuro-net officials in charge of the organization said that they received copies of the emails and letter documents distributed to their member organizations. They explained that they were shocked to find the group’s logos, letter-heading and official seal stamps used in the documents and emails sent to the groups’ members informing them of the extraordinary AGM.
“The unfortunate thing in all this is that the government has forged persons and stationary logos and official stamp seals belonging to the organization, so as to create a clone in the image of the umbrella group and destroy the authentic Shuro-net organization. What worries me the most, is not just the ruin of Shuro-net, but what this holds for the future of existing companies and civil societies that registered with the government in the belief that their companies and organizations names, symbols and logos are safe from abuse by fraudsters and impersonators,” stressed the coordinator of Shuro-net executive committee, Mr. Ibrahim H Muse in Thursday’s press conference held at Shuro-net headquarters. Mr Muse urged parliament to investigate this serious case involving the government.
Organizations belonging to the group who were present in the press conference held by Shuro-net executives on Thursday were: Nagaad, Havayoco, Sonyo, Samatalis and Solja. All issued statements in support of the current Shuro-net board of directors and executive committee members and declared Wednesday’s extraordinary AGM held in Ambassador Hotel as ‘not belonging to the Shuro-net umbrella group”.
Meanwhile, SL Times has received unconfirmed reports that the government has made preparations to break into the Shuro-net offices and headquarters in Hargeysa, on Saturday, to install the board of directors who were elected on Wednesday at Ambassador Hotel.
Source: Somaliland Times
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts in supporting the democratization process in Somaliland., we also wish to extend our gratitude for your relentless exertion and concern in securing our release during the last four months and twenty three days we have been unjustly imprisoned by the current Somaliland government.
