Outrage as woman jailed for three years after criticising Somali government online | Global development
A rickshaw driver in Somalia was sentenced to three years in prison for comments he made on social media, in an incident that attracted public attention and sparked anger in the country.
Nursing graduate Sadia Moalim Ali, 27, was initially charged with insulting state institutions and inciting to commit a crime, but was only convicted on the former. His sentence, immediately condemned as “fundamentally unjust”, was announced on 25 June.
He had made critical comments about the Somali federal government on Facebook and TikTok, speaking out against youth unemployment and high fuel prices affecting the country, as well as allegations of corruption, nepotism and forced evictions.
The sentence handed down to the young mother was condemned by former senior government officials. former president of SomaliaSharif Sheikh Ahmed and human rights organizations.
Former Prime Minister of Somalia, Hasan Ali Khaire, wrote to x: “Today’s three-year prison sentence…is deeply disturbing and fundamentally unjust. This politically motivated arrest and conviction…reflects a disturbing pattern of judicial overintervention, political retaliation, and abuse of state authority.”
In a statement, the Coalition of Somali Human Rights Defenders called for Ali’s immediate release, saying: “Ali’s conviction and harsh sentence represents a serious attack on freedom of expression and the legitimate work of human rights defenders in Somalia.”
It was stated that her case reflected a wider pattern of systematic discrimination against women advocating social and political change. “Female human rights defenders in Somalia continue to face disproportionate risks,” the report said, “including arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, intimidation, online harassment, and gender-based discrimination aimed at excluding them from civic and political participation.”
Somali media reported that one of Ali’s lawyers, Muhammed Sheikh Osman, rejected the decision He said the defense would object.
“[Ali] He told reporters that he was unhappy with the Banaadir District Court’s decision. “The court made a harsh decision that could have been avoided.”
Ali, who is the breadwinner for his family and has a one-year-old daughter, has been detained since April 12. He told the Guardian in a prison interview in May that he had been tortured. “I was forced to lie face down on the ground, water was poured on me. The guards with boots kicked me. They stood on top of me and beat me with batons.
“I was taken to an isolation cell and kept there for two days. While I was locked in the cell, I was deprived of food and basic needs. I was not allowed to go out to go to the toilet.”
Ali told the court that police officers threatened him with rape.
Torture, defined as any intentionally inflicted act that inflicts severe physical or mental pain or suffering, is prohibited by international law and International Law. UN Convention Against Torture under any circumstances.
Somali authorities have been accused of a systematic and escalating crackdown on human rights since 2022, using arbitrary arrests, detentions, harassment, threats and intimidation to silence journalists, activists and others expressing dissenting views.
