Editor released over women’s death sentence

An editor jailed for reporting that two women had been sentenced to death has been released in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia. Abdishakur Yusuf Ali was released on Sunday, 1 April, after spending 36 days in detention on charges of publishing false information. He told IRIN in a telephone interview that he had been released for lack of evidence. According to Abdishakur, he was first brought before the court on 25 March, when the police asked for more time to bring witnesses. He was brought back to court on 1 April, but police failed produce any witnesses. Abdishakur told IRIN the court dismissed the case and “gave me the right to sue the authorities for unlawful detention”. Abdishakur said he was in good health, but had contracted malaria while in custody and had been hospitalised between court appearances. The editor said he planned to sue the authorities for “unlawful detention and loss of income”. He was arrested in late February when the Puntland administration accused him of publishing “false assertions”. He had reported that two women living together had been sentenced to death for “unnatural behaviour”. His newspaper ceased publication after his arrest, but had been published again on Thursday since his release, he said.