Woman jailed for three years for criticising Somali government online

A rickshaw driver in Somalia, Sadia Moalim Ali, 27, has been sentenced to three years in prison for comments she made on social media criticising the federal government. She was originally charged with insulting government institutions and incitement to commit a crime, but convicted only of the former.

The sentence, immediately condemned as "fundamentally unjust", was handed down on 25 June. Ali had posted on Facebook and TikTok about youth unemployment, high fuel prices, and alleged corruption, nepotism and forced evictions. The case drew condemnation from former high-ranking officials, including the former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and human rights organisations.

Hassan Ali Khaire, the former prime minister, wrote on X: “The three-year prison sentence handed down today … is deeply troubling and fundamentally unjust.

Somalia

sadia moalim, somalia, prison sentence, social media, facebook, tiktok, insulting government, youth unemployment, corruption, forced evictions