Four Somaliland journalists sentenced for defamation

HARGEISA, Mar 4 (Reuters) A Somaliland court sentenced four journalists today to jail terms ranging from two to two-and-a half years for defaming the country's president and revoked the licence of the paper that employed them.

Three of them had been detained since January while the fourth was sentenced in absentia. They worked for the local daily HAATUF and were accused of defaming Somaliland's President Dahir Rayale Kahin.

The regional court in Hargeisa also fined the newspaper 5 million Somaliland shillings and revoked its licence, drawing criticism from a rights groups accusing Somaliland of muzzling the press.

The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, a little-known group, said the journalists had not received a fair trial. It said the five million Somaliland shillings was equivalent to 800 dollar.

''The international community needs to speak out on the conduct of justice in Somaliland,'' it said in a statement.

''I call upon the government to lift the ban on HAATUF's publication and allow the media to flourish as part of an ongoing democratisation process,'' it quoted its chairman Hassan Shire Sheikh as saying.

Despite its relative stability compared to the rest of Somalia, so far the world has withheld recognition of Somaliland, preferring the old colonial borders to avoid opening a Pandora's box of secession conflicts.

REUTERS SP KP2155