Monday 5 August 2024 {HMC} According to the information we are receiving, prisoners belonging to the Al-Shabaab group who were sentenced to death have escaped from a prison in the north of Galkayo city in the Puntland administration.
The escaped prisoners, who were waiting to be executed after being found guilty of various crimes including murders and bombings, did not know the reason why they escaped from the high-security prison where they were kept.
MP Abdiladief Muse Sanyare, the former governor of the Mudug region in Puntland, described the escape of the Al-Shabaab prisoners as regrettable.
“It is unfortunate that murderers who were sentenced to death three years ago and were waiting to be shot,” said Sanyare.
MP Sanyare emphasized that there is a need for a serious investigation to bring those who contributed to this act to justice.
This incident is the second time that Al-Shabaab prisoners have escaped from Galkayo prison.
In mid-July 2022, another group of death row prisoners escaped from Galkayo prison.
This escape comes at a time when the president of Puntland, Syed Abdullahi Deni, is heading to the city of Galkayo.
Recently, the relatives of the people who were killed in Galkayo demanded that justice be carried out against Al-Shabaab members who were sentenced to death. They accused the authorities of Puntland of wanting to release the prisoners, which they said could lead to acts of tribal revenge.
The Al-Shabaab prisoners in Galkayo prisons were mostly young people between the ages of 17 and 20 years old. The Puntland administration, which has executed two Al-Shabaab prisoners in Galkayo, has suspended the execution of the remaining Al-Shabaab prisoners, most of whom are young people.
Reports say that Puntland has faced pressure from international human rights organizations, which have already demanded that the execution of Al-Shabaab youths who have been sentenced to death not be carried out.
In the second month of 2022, the organization Save the Children called on the government of Somalia to intervene in the long prison terms and death sentences given in Puntland to six young people who were accused of being Al-Shabaab and accused of planned murders.
