Court Acquits Somaliland Poet after 44 days in Police Custody

Somaliland.com (Hargeisa) Today Hargeisa regional court has acquitted and immediately released Somaliland Poet Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan from police arbitrary detention.

AbdirahmanIbrahim, also known as Abdirahman Abees, a popular poet with British dual citizenship, has been held at the central prison in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, for over a month, solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Police officers arrested him on January 12, 2019, as he was having lunch at Hargeisa’s Lake Assal Hotel, just a day after he had recited a poem at the Mansoor Hotel highlighting various human rights concerns in detention in Somaliland such as police brutality, arbitrary detention, and degrading treatment of prisoners.

The chairing Hargeisa Regional Court Judge has dismissed the accusations against the poet, proved his innocence and ordered his immediate release.

Mr. Abees’s lawyer Gulied Jama has welcomed the verdict and indicated that justice has prevailed.

Somaliland’s 2001 Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and press freedom but the 1964 penal code includes a number of vaguely defined and overly broad criminal offences, including “offending the honour and prestige of the head of state, insulting a public officer or institution, or contempt against the nation, state or flag”, which are punishable by up to three years’ imprisonmen