URGENT ACTION

POET ACQUITTED AND RELEASED

Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan, a poet in Somaliland, was released on 25 February. He had been arrested and detained on 12 January after reciting a poem the previous day in which he called on the Somaliland government to reform its prisons and criminal justice system.

NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS.

Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan alias Abdirahman Abees, a poet in Somaliland, was released on 25 February. This was after the Hargeisa Regional Court acquitted him of the charge of ‘insulting the state’.

He was arrested in Hargeisa on 12 January in connection with a poem he had recited on 11 January at the Mansoor Hotel in Hargeisa. In the poem, he highlighted human rights violations people in Somaliland face including police brutality, arbitrary detention and the degrading treatment of prisoners. The poem also called on the Somaliland government to reform its prisons and the criminal justice system.

His lawyer called to thank Amnesty International for publicly speaking out against Abdirahman’s detention

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan alias Abdirahman Abees (He, His, him)

THIS IS THE FIRST AND FINAL UPDATE FOR UA 17/19

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr52/9798/2019/en/