DJIBOUTI

CASE N° DJI/09 - AHMED BOULALEH BARREH
CASE N° DJI/10 - ALI MAHAMADE HOUMED
CASE N° DJI/11 - MOUMIN BAHDON FARAH

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 167th session (Jakarta, 21 October 2000)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Ahmed Boulaleh Barreh, Mr. Ali Mahamade Houmed and Mr. Moumin Bahdon Farah of Djibouti, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/167/12(c)­R.1), and to the relevant resolution adopted at its 166th session (May 2000),

Taking note of the information and observations provided by the Djibouti delegation to the 104^th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; also taking note of information provided by one of the sources on 1 September 2000,

Recalling that Mr. Boulaleh Barreh, Mr. Mahamade Houmed and Mr. Bahdon Farah were found guilty on 7 August 1996 of insulting the President of the Republic and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, a fine and five years of deprivation of their civic rights; that they were consequently unable to participate in the parliamentary elections of December 1995 and the presidential elections of April 1999; recalling also that their trial went ahead despite a Constitutional Court ruling of 31 July 1996 that the lifting of their parliamentary immunity had been flawed,

Recalling its doubts about the fairness of the relevant trial proceedings and, in particular, its position as expressed in its previous resolutions that, in making the allegedly offending statement, the former MPs concerned were merely exercising their right to freedom of speech, which would be quite meaningless if it did not include the right to criticise the Executive,

Considering that Mr. Bahdon Farah's passport, which had been confiscated on several occasions, has now been returned to him,

Recalling that, on 7 February 2000, the Government and the armed rebellion signed a Framework Peace Agreement whereby the members of the armed rebellion were granted an amnesty; bearing in mind the view it took at its 166th session in Amman that, given the spirit of reconciliation expressed in the Peace Agreement, it would also be fitting to extend the amnesty to former members of Parliament whose attacks on the authorities were purely verbal,

Considering that, at the hearing held on the occasion of the Committee's session in Jakarta, the delegation of Djibouti reiterated that the Peace Agreement was the result of a dialogue between the Government and the rebellion and that nobody had thought of including cases such as those in question, with the result that the amnesty law adopted by the National Assembly concerned only persons having taken part in the rebellion,

Considering further that, according to the delegation, in any event the question of an amnesty for the former deputies ceased to be relevant as they were entitled to stand for the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 2002, since the five-year period of deprivation of political rights would have expired by then,

Bearing in mind that in its Article III, entitled “Of Democracy”, the Peace Agreement affirms that there is no viable Republic without democracy and no democracy without a balance of power, plurality of opinion, freedom to express opinions and the right to act in their furtherance,

1. Thanks the delegation of Djibouti for the information and observations it provided;
2. Notes with satisfaction that Mr. Bahdon Farah's passport has now been returned to him;
3. Regrets that its call for an amnesty for him and for Mr. Mahamade Houmed and Mr. Boulaleh Barreh has remained unheeded, and that the National Assembly has taken no measure to remedy this situation and to ensure that their former colleagues who exercised their right to freedom of speech by verbally attacking a State authority are at least placed on a par with those who took up arms against the Government;
4. Considers that, notwithstanding the approaching expiry of the period of deprivation of political rights imposed on them, granting such an amnesty would be an important demonstration of the prevailing spirit of reconciliation, which, it trusts, extends to the political opposition; and that such an amnesty would augur well for future democracy as called for in that Peace Agreement;
5. Urges the National Assembly to consider the adoption of such an amnesty in favour of their former colleagues as it did in the case of the armed rebellion;
6. Requests the Secretary General to convey this decision to the President of the Republic and the President of the National Assembly;
7. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session (April 2001), in the hope that by then it will have been notified of such a development.

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