Share the post "Puntland Military Court Indicted in absentia Influence social media person.."
A Puntland Military court earlier this week indicted Influence social media person Mr.Mohamed Yaqub Siyad in absentia for “spreading pro-ISIS propaganda”. The prosecutor said that “Mohamed Yaqub Siyad, whose social media alias is Yaqub Siyad, shared a video on a social media platform in which he denounced counterterrorism operations against Daesh [ aka Islamic State in Somalia] as a campaign against certain clans…
This legal case is unprecedented in Somalia, given the fact that no promoter of pro-terrorism propaganda has ever been put on trial in absentia. Yaqub lives in a country where ISIS and its parent organisation, ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), are outlawed. Publicly expressing sympathy for ISIL and its affiliates can constitute a crime classified in the Western world as “glorifying terrorism.”
Puntland has endured terrorist attacks perpetrated by al-Shabab and Islamic State militants, but the ongoing military operation appears to be focused on IS, The group has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, but experts have warned of growing activity.
Somali security experts reported that IS increased its membership numbers in Somalia last year, The group was previously estimated to have between 100 and 400 fighters, but Somali security and intelligence experts estimate their current numbers to be 500 to 600 militants.
