By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (somalilandsun) – The professional career of lawyer Guleid Ahmed Jama has been placed in a limbo.
This comes in the face of a letter from the Minister of justice Ahmed Fara Adharee informing that the legal services of Guleid Ahmed Jama have been discontinued thus in effect barring him from the bar.
Addressed to the Chief Justice and copied to the attorney general in which the two were not only appraised of the termination of license to practice law for Guleid Ahmed but covertly ordering them to ensure that the order takes force in all courts within Somaliland.
Crafted in the very rich Somali language thus ambiguous in reasons behind the disbarment, the justice minister repeatedly referred to the lawyer as either alleged or claimant to the title of chairman of the Human Rights Centre-HRC
In his capacity as the HRC chief Guleid Ahmed has been a thorn in the flesh of Somaliland authorities as pertains to exposure of rights violations in many areas but intensely within the sphere of freedom of speech in which he, Guleid, has ended up in police custody of various occasions.
Having failed to muzzle the rights activists through threats of police might, the ministry of justice is now using the disbarment from legal practice Guleid Ahmed Jama in the hopes that denial of gainful employment shall hasten the demise of his activism, a tall and illegal order indeed,
Exemplary of his exposure and condemnations of rights violations by the Somaliland authorities is the recent one at an international forum in Dublin Ireland where his report on local human rights was acclaimed by participants representing several countries and international organizations.
Queried by Somalilandsun, the HRC chief said that the disbarment was not legally executed thence no legal standing but most disgusting was the choice of time in releasing the information of an order made on the 10th April.
Said he, “Why announcing the withdrawal of my license to practice law when celebrating somalilandis25”
In the meantime the Defend Defenders has demanded the immediate and UN conditional retraction of the order disbarring the lawyer
Below is the ministry of justice letter barring the Chairman of Human Rights Centre from legal practice in Somaliland.
