Freemuse Defending Artistic Freedom
27 February, 2019
UPDATE: Poet found not guilty, released from custody
On 25 February 2019, a Hargeisa regional court in Somaliland found poet Abdirahman Abees not guilty of insulting the police and the government, local media Horn Diplomat reported. The court said the poet exercised his freedom of expression, and ordered his immediate release.
According to Freemuse sources, Abees was released on 25 February after spending six weeks in detention.
Hargeisa Court ruling sets free poet Abdirahman Abees who was arrested by the Somaliland Police 4 reciting a poem on police misconducts & criticising the gov 4 its inaction. Poet Abees was in custody 4 6 wks. Human Rights defender @GuleidJ spoke to the media on his behalf.@hrw pic.twitter.com/4Mqtz1u8OX
— Abdillahi M. Ali (@DiasporaCorner) February 25, 2019
20 February, 2019
Poet charged with ‘insulting the police and the government’
More than a month after he was arrested and detained, British-Somalilander poet Abdirahman Abees has been formally charged under Article 269 of the Somaliland penal code for “insulting the police and the government”, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
An initial hearing date has been set for 21 February 2019.
14 January 2019
Poet arrested after poetry reading
The government of Somaliland arrested British-Somalilander poet Abdirahman Abees on 12 January 2019, the day after he recited poems about “police brutality”, “arbitrary detentions” and “poor leadership” at a poetry reading event in Hargeisa, according to Human Rights Centre (HRC) Somaliland.
The deputy police commissionaire and the police spokesperson stated in a press conference that poet Abdirahman Abees was arrested because his poem was "insulting and defaming the police." They added: the media and the public are prohibited by law to talk about the "police force."
— Guleid Ahmed Jama (@GuleidJ) January 13, 2019
According to Freemuse sources, Abees organised the poetry evening on 11 January with the theme Try and imagine the future of Somaliland and its police force. When introducing several poems, he spoke about the sociopolitics of Somaliland and made suggestions for improvement.
The next day, Abees was reportedly arrested at a restaurant in Hargeisa—the capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland—despite police not having a court-issued warrant for his arrest.
“Article 25(2) of the Constitution of Somaliland states that no person can be arrested or detained, except when caught in the act of committing a crime or, on the issue of a reasoned arrest warrant by a competent judge,” HRC reported.
The Constitution also states everyone has the freedom “to express his opinions orally, visually, artistically or in writing or in any other way”.
The poet is being held in the detention facility of the Counterterrorism Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department in Hargeisa, according to HRC.
His family told HRC they have not been allowed to see him.
Video: Abdirahman Abees at the poetry event in Hargeisa on 11 January 2019.
