Eighteen jailed for “undermining national security”

The authorities in the self-declared independent state of Somaliland sentenced 18 people to six months each in prison on suspicion of “undermining national security”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said on Tuesday. The 18 who were arrested on 9 June at the port town of Berbera were sentenced before a Berbera court, said AFP.

The 17 men and one women, flew in from Mogadishu, the Somali capital, after participating in last year’s Djibouti-hosted Somali peace conference. The peace conference, which was boycotted by the Somaliland administration, resulted in the establishment of the Transitional National Government (TNG) was established. The Somaliland authorities consider any Somalilanders who attended the conference as “associates of the enemies of the nation”, said AFP. The convictions were condemned by the TNG, which described them as a “violation of human rights and severe setback to the unity of Somalia”. The Mogadishu-based human rights group, Doctor Isma’il Jima’le Human Rights Centre, also condemned the convictions and called for the immediate release of the 18, AFP said. Attempts by IRIN to get comments from the Somaliland authorities were unsuccessful.