Today’s court session was the last of a series of hearings starting
from January 4, 2023 to February 6, 2023. The politically-motivated
case was brought by the deputy minister of information, Abdirahman Yusuf
Al-Adaala through the office of the attorney general. Abdalle was
arbitrarily detained on October 11, 2022 a day after the SJS office was raided following a
joint press freedom groups’ statement that raised concern on Al-Adaala’s order intended to restrict and silence media freedom in Somalia.
Abdalle is facing state persecution for his principled stance against
censorship. While in detention, Abdalle had experienced human rights
violation.
On 4th January, 2023 Abdalle was charged with three articles of the Somali penal code – Article 219 (Bringing
the Nation or the State into contempt), Article 321 (Instigation to
disobey the laws), and Article 505 (non-observance of orders of the
authorities). Our defense lawyers, however, defended Abdalle from all
the three charges and even proved that journalism is not a crime under
the country’s constitution.
The judge Salah Ali Mohamud used Article 505 of the penal code for today’s verdict.
After delivering the sentence, the judge ordered Abdalle to be
handcuffed but the police officers turned down his order. When Abdalle
was taken to the Mogadishu Central Prison, the officers there reviewed
the verdict letter and found that Abdalle has served more than four
months of detention resulting his immediate freedom. Abdalle was then allowed to go free.
“We are disappointed by the court’s decision which clearly proves how
the whole case was politically-motivated. We stand with Abdalle Mumin
and we reiterate that journalism should not become a crime in Somalia.
Today’s Banadir Regional Court verdict is simply unacceptable and
utterly shocking.” Mohamed Osman Makaraan, Secretary General of Somali
Media Association (SOMA) said, “We are extremely glad that Abdalle is
free and that he is now able to continue his advocacy for media freedom
in Somalia and beyond and will continue to carry out his journalism as a
human rights journalist.”
“As the Somali media fraternity commemorates World Radio Day,
today’s court sentence not only sends a chilling message to the entire
media fraternity but also instills fear among media professionals and
press freedom advocacy groups.” SJS President Mohamed Ibrahim said,
“it’s a pure travesty of justice following the conviction and ruling
against our secretary-general Abdalle Mumin and our lawyers are
appealing this unjust decision,”
SJS and SOMA are thankful to all the supporters and partners in press
freedom as we also express our gratitude to the members of Somali
parliament, human rights groups and the general public for their utmost
solidarity during this case.
