By Bashir Goth
Boqor Osman Aw Mahmoud, Buurmadow, is languishing in jail
for the fourth month in a case that exposed the faltering and inept system of
Somaliland justice.
In four months, the government prosecutor could not build a
plausible case against Boqor Osman and couldn’t bring credible people other
than government officials and arm-twisted reporters to take the witness stand.
In the first hearing of the case held on 24th April 2012,
the court accepted the defense lawyers’ criticism of the legal conformity of
the charge sheet and the judge had requested the prosecution to replace the
charge sheet and submit one that is consistent with the law.
When the prosecution failed to replace the charge sheet and
submitted the same charge with government officials including the President’s
spokesman as witnesses at the second hearing on 3rd May 2012, the defense
lawyers requested the court to dismiss the case. However, to the surprise of
the defense team and other audience, the court ordered the case to continue. It
was obvious that the court was put under immense pressure to continue the case
and was particularly intimidated by the presence of the Attorney General at the
hearing.
Realizing that the court had succumbed to pressure, the
defense lawyers decided to withdraw from the case after consulting with their
client. The defense team refused to be a decoy for the incarceration of their
client in a kangaroo court. They assumed that their client was already indicted
outside the court when the Minister of Presidency had accused Boqor Osman of
committing crimes against the state. This is a government minister publicly
announcing a guilty verdict against an accused person on the national TV even
before the court made any decision on the legal conformity of the case charge
sheet.
In another deliberate obstruction of justice, the Minister
of Justice issued a rapidly cooked up circular to the court and Attorney
General in which he declared that members of the legislative houses and other
government officials were not allowed to practice law. This was an apparent
measure to stop one of the leading defense team of Boqor Osman who was also a
member of parliament from extending legal assistance to his client. The
Minister’s circular however had forgotten to mention that the Attorney General
himself was engaged
in cases.
It appears now that the stage is set for the court to
announce a guilty verdict against Boqor Osman for being vocal against the
government, for exercising his constitutional right to express his opinion and
for being the only dissident voice in a country that has become scarily bereft
of any opposition.
The case of Boqor Osman
Buurmadow is one of many cases of justice gone astray in Somaliland but
Buurmadow’s case stands out as it is a test for the country’s democracy and the
ability of Somaliland citizens to exercise their right to free speech.
Constitutional Democracy between Ahmed Silanyo and Jacob
Zuma
It may be appropriate here to compare President Ahmed
Silanyo’s high handedness and making mockery of democracy to President Jacob
Zuma of South Africa who despite being the victim of a burlesque painting
showing him with his genitals hanging out has pursued a legal route to get his
constitutional right. Even when the painting which was displayed in a public
gallery was defaced by angry individuals, the perpetrators were arrested for vandalizing
the gallery and for violating the freedom of expression.
Here the law protects the artistic creativity and freedom of expression instead
of glorifying the president and putting him above the law.
The case ended amicably when President Jacob Zuma agreed to withdraw
the legal challenge after Goodman Gallery took down the controversial
portrait but only after it was sold to a German dealer and after it had been
viewed and still can be by millions of people on the internet.
With a moment of reflection, one cannot but bewilder at the
difference between Jacob Zuma, a man with no formal
education whose world was shaped by the struggle against the inhumane apartheid
system in South Africa , upholding the constitutional right of his citizens and
respecting their freedom of speech even at the cost of his personal reputation,
and Ahmed Silanyo who earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University
of Manchester in UK, one of the greatest western democracies, trampling on his
citizens rights and behaving like a tin pot dictator.