HARGEISA (Halbeeg News) – The leader of Somaliland, Muse Bihi Abdi has pardoned 388 prisoners who have been serving time behind bars in various prisons across the region.
In observance of the beginning of the Islamic New Year (the Hijri New Year), the leader said the offenders in custody would be granted a second chance as a fulfilment of his mandate.
“On the occasion of the beginning of the Islamic New Year, I have exercised the presidential prerogative of pardon and granted a second chance to some 388 prisoners convicted of minor crimes in the country’s prisons,” the leader said.
The administration made it clear that this amnesty wouldn’t affect the convicts’ civil rights or the legal repercussions of the crimes for which they were convicted.
According to the official announcement, the Office of the Attorney General will carry out the execution of this amnesty.
The self-declared Republic of Somaliland announced independence from the rest of Somalia on May 18, 1991.
The crucial event occurred at Burao town, about160 km east of Hargeisa, the capital, following a reconciliation conference where representatives of multiple clans converged just five months after the fall of the regime of General Mohamed Siad Barre in Mogadishu in January 1991.
The self-rule was announced by the Somali Nation Movement (SNM), a guerrilla group that fought Mr Barre’s military in the former British Somaliland Protectorate. The rebel’s chairman Abdurahman Ahmed Ali alias Abdurahman Tour became the breakaway republic’s first leader for two years on an interim capacity.
Since then, the region had held several presidential elections that saw Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, Dahir Rayale Kahin and Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo rise to power. Somaliland’s current President is Muse Bihi Abdi.
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