Somalilandsun – The case against Guleid Ahmed Jama a lawyer and the founder of Human Rights Center, an organisation which works to promote and protect human rights in Somaliland has been dismissed.
On 26 August 2015 Hargeisa Regional Court issued a ruling closing the criminal case against human rights defender Mr Guleid Ahmed Jama. The Attorney General has a right to appeal this decision within 15 days.
Guleid Ahmed Hama was arrested on 18 April 2015 by order of the President of Hargeisa Regional Court, who accused him of insulting court judges. He was charged with ‘instigation to disobey the laws’, ‘subversive or anti-national propaganda’, ‘intimidation of the public’ and ‘publication or circulation of false, exaggerated and tendentious news capable of disturbing public order’. It is believed that these accusations were directly linked to the publication of the Human Rights Center’s 2014 annual report, which documented human rights violations committed in Somaliland during the course of the year, as well as to an interview that Guleid Ahmed Jama gave to BBC Somali on the judicial system in Somaliland on 17April 2015, in which he suggested the need for reform within the justice system.
On 6 May 2015, Guleid Ahmed Jama had been released on bail from Hargeisa Central Prison pending trial.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the court’s decree to close the criminal case against Guleid Ahmed Jama, as it believes that the charges brought against him were a direct attempt to prevent the Human Rights Center from continuing its legitimate work in defence of human rights.
