Somaliland Releases Canadian Women from Jail

Two Canadian women jailed in Somaliland and facing 40 lashes were released Tuesday, according to sources.

Maymona Abdi, 28, and Karima Watts, 24, were arrested in January after police entered a house in Hargeisa, their lawyer Mubarik Mohamoud Abdi said.

The women, who are originally from Ottawa, were accused of having consumed alcohol, which is illegal in the Republic of Somaliland.

New York-based human rights activist Jason Jeremias said Abdi was in Somaliland to help women facing gender-based violence.

Their lawyer said they signed confessions under duress, hoping to avoid jail, but they were sentenced to 2½ months in prison and 40 lashes.

“[The prosecution] did not prove before the court that they used alcohol,” their lawyer said.

Ayan Mahamoud, a representative of Somaliland to the U.K., and the Commonwealth said being sentenced to lashings is rare in Somaliland.

“I thought, what’s going on?” she said. “I think the last capital crime in Somaliland was in ’92, ’93.”