QARAN Leaders Will Continue To Be Banned From Politics

[Jacaylbaro]

 

Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 22, 2007 (SL Times) – “The three top leaders of the QARAN political association will continue to be banned from politics despite their release from prison on Tuesday,” said Yusuf Tallabo, Somaliland's Deputy Minister of Justice.

 

QARAN chairman Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabose and his two deputies Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Jamal Aideed Ibrahim were arrested on July 28 and sentenced on August 8, 2007 by a regional court to 3 years and nine months in prison. The court also banned the 3 leaders from politics for 5 years for founding an illegal organization and endangering public order through staging of political rallies.

 

The QARAN political association was proclaimed on April 2007. But the government has since been denying it registration as a political organization on the basis of a constitutional clause that limits the number of political parties in Somaliland to three QARAN's argument has been that whilst it true that only 3 political parties should exist in the country at any given time, it doesn't mean that those political parties should be UDUB, KULMIYE and UCID forever.

 

According to QARAN, the country's 3 national parties should emerge from the municipal elections which are contested once every 5 years and are constitutionally designed to produce the 3 national parties until the next local council elections.

 

Fearing that the formation of new political associations might endanger the existence of his weak UDUB party, Mr. Rayale responded by ordering the arrest and prosecution of Dr. Gabose, Mohamed Hashi and Jamal Aideed. Faced with countrywide protests against the imprisonment not to mention continuous international pressure, Mr. Rayale finally agreed to release the three QARAN leaders from the Mandera maximum security prison where they had been held for 144 days.

 

Mr. Rayale had repeatedly demanded that the prisoners petition him for clemency, but the QARAN leaders refused to do so saying that they had committed no crime and they were unjustly imprisoned for their political views. Presidnet Rayale’s release of QARAN leaders was in response to a request for amnesty by clan elders.

 

Around midnight Monday, the 3 men were informed by the prison guards that they were pardoned and were being taken to Hargeysa.

 

However on Thursday Mr. Yusuf Tallabo told a VOA reporter that the 3 QARAN leaders will not be allowed to exercise their political rights.

 

Until now, QARAN leaders have not been shown the text of the presidential pardon that ordered their release.

 

According to Dr. Gabose the government doesn't want to make the decree public so as to be able to write it down in the future as a conditional release that doesn't cover our ban from politics.

 

"Their plan is to invoke the order banning us from politics if we don't disband QARAN. In any case it's blackmail, and it's typical of the Rayale regime," said Gabose.

 

The QARAN leaders are expected to visit the Attorney General's office this morning to ask for a copy of the presidential pardon.

 

Under the Somaliland constitution, the president can pardon or grant amnesty to convicted individuals or a group of prisoners. But there are no bylaws or procedures for the implementation of the constitution’s article 90 regarding "pardon" and "amnesty".

 

In the QARAN case, the government’s prosecutor had utilized the Somalia penal code and criminal procedures code. According to that law, the Somaliland House of Representatives is to assume the power of granting an amnesty in the same way as Somalia's National Assembly was vested with such power.

 

Meanwhile QARAN leaders vowed to continue to exercise their political rights.

 

According to the Somaliland constitution (article 22), every citizen has the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural affairs; and every citizen has the right to elect and to be elected. Article 23 gives citizens the right for political association.

 

These two articles in addition to article 32 which guarantees freedom of the press, are among the articles in the constitution (bill of rights) that cannot be amended or changed by any branch of the government (see article 127 on amendments or corrections to the constitution).

 

Then there is law No: 14/2000 for the registration of political parties and associations. This law has not been annulled and therefore remains valid and applicable.

 

However the government had disbanded the registration committee in 2003 so as to avoid submission of applications for the formation of political associations in 2007.

 

 

Source: Somaliland Times