By: Latifa Yusuf Masai
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Four Court of Appeal clerks are to serve lengthily jail terms for establishing and managing a fake Facebook account.
in the name of their boss
The four were among six initially charged with the Facebook account allegedly owned by the Maroodi-jeeh regional appeal Court, judge Ali Sandule Diriye, and subsequent social media engagement in which they were found guilty of publishing false information.
The case that ensued four months ago saw the Maroodi-jeeh regional court magistrate find court clerks Saeed Mahmud Ibrahim and Mohamed Rashid Ali not guilty of any offense related to the charge thence freed.
Despite pleas by the other four, to the contrary the presiding magistrate stated that the evidence produced by the prosecution gave ample proof of guilty as charged thence sentenced them to prison as punishment for the crime.
went to sentence four now former court of appeal clerks.
Having been found of utilizing his Information Communication Technology Skills to create the fake Facebook account in the name of Appeallant Judge Ali Sandule Diriye, the first defendant Abdiaziz Muhumed Muse ‘Sahal’ was sentenced to a one year sentence in prison.
Found guilty of managing a fake social media account purportedly owned by their boss, co-defendants Abdinuur Ibrahim Mohamed, Layla Saeed Adan and Hana Hasan Yusuf were each given a six months jail term.
In somaliland where social media especially Facebook is widely used the profusion of fake accounts allegedly owned by senior officials are used to discredit them through posting of erroneous information.
Hopefully this case and subsequent imprisonment of the perpetrators shall lead to other people being brought to book for running fake social media accounts.
