Sweden arrest sparks Somali protests
According to respected Norwegian blog Dokument.no, Abdi Qeybdiid in 1993 was commander of the militia protecting warlord Mohamad Farah Aidid when the Americans came to seize him. 18 American soldiers died in the ensuing Black Hawk Down incident, so I would suspect that the USA would be interested in this case:Sweden arrest sparks Somali protests
Thousands of angry Somalis took to the streets of bullet-scarred Mogadishu on Wednesday to protest the arrest this week in Sweden of the capital's police chief on suspicion of genocide. In a demonstration attended by hundreds of heavily armed militiamen and surrounded by "battlewagons" – machine gun-mounted pick-ups – more than 5,000 protestors denounced Monday's detention of Colonel Abdi Hassan Awlae Qeybdid. "I don't know who assigned Sweden to be the judge in the Somali conflict," said Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, the minister of national security in Somalia's deeply split transitional government. "They have the right to reject someone from visiting their territory but no legitimate right to arrest someone for crimes allegedly committed in another country," he told the huge crowd. Commerce Minister Musa Sudi Yalahow demanded that Sweden release Qeybdid immediately, apologize to him and pay him compensation for the "unlawful arrest." "Sweden has no jurisdiction over what happened in Somalia and they should immediately free Qeybdid," he said. "The Swedish are wrong."
Musa, Qanyare and other speakers, all members of a faction opposed to the transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, blamed Qeybdid's arrest on Yusuf, claiming he wanted to foment trouble in their camp to strengthen his own hand. "It is a misfortune to see a Somali president masterminding the arrest of a Somali official in Sweden," said Mogadishu warlord Osman Ali Atto, referring to Yusuf as a powerless and deceitful "old man". "You old man, do what you want and we will do all that we can," he told the rowdy assembly. "Then, let us see who the winner is." Police in Sweden arrested the 57-year-old Qeybdid early Monday in the southern Swedish city of Lund, where he had attended an international conference, after getting a tip from a Somali refugee who accused him of committing war crimes. The accusations, which revolve around incidents that occurred in the southern Somali port town of Kismayo in 1991, are now being reviewed by prosecutors to see if Qeybdid can be tried under Sweden's "universal jurisdiction" law that allows Swedish courts to try suspects for genocide committed abroad, they said.
Sweden: "Please Give Us More War Criminals"
Sweden is willing to receive more war criminals from the former Yugoslavia, but would not consider detaining Saddam Hussein in its prisons, Justice Minister Thomas Bodström has said. In an interview with Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Bodström said that discussions were underway about how Sweden could take in more of those convicted of war crimes at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
posted by Unknown @ 3:41 PM
5 Comments:
Why not put Abdi Qeybdiid on the next plane back home as an undesireable? Why let him come in the first place?
Why don't they hand this man over to the US? I thought they were loathe to become involved in conflicts outside their own country. Didn't Saddam want to be exiled to Sweden but was turned down?
The soldiers Spain wants to prosecute better not go to Sweden. Or Bush, Cheney, Rice, etc.
"Universal jurisdiction", or even "Moral champion" etc.
It seems that the Swedish government (Alongside many Swedes) is suffering from delusions of grandeur.
@ Ole:
Let me remind you about the US is the country in the world which is most keen to apply its laws to other countries - everything from tax and corporate law to 'war crimes' and 'enemy combatants' or anything else it dislikes. The US doesn't even stop at arresting these people when they're in the US. They'll arrest them outside the US as well, if that suits them.
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