HARGEISA: Judge Hands Fine, Jail Sentence to Rising Poet

Hargeisa, 17 Nov 2013 (SDN) -One of Somaliland’s rising poets was handed down prison sentence and a fine for allegedly supporting Al Shabab. On Saturday the regional in Hargeisa sentenced Poet Abdiwahid Ali Gamdid to one year in prison and a fine of One Million Somaliland Shillings for supporting Al Shabab.

The regional court ruled that Poet Abdiwahid Ali Gamdid had published a poem in which he lends support for Al Shabab’s leader Ahmed Abdi Godane and Al Shabab’s Westgate massacre in Nairobi that claimed the lives of 67 people and injured more than 200 in September this year.

Poet Abdiwahid, a young rising poet engaged in social poems was arrested last month after releasing a controversial poem in which he praised Al Shabab’s leader Ahmed Abdi Godane and Al Shabab’s deadly attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall.

SDN Hargeisa