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Minister’s killer to face the firing squad as court-martial upholds lower court verdict

Storyline:National News
A military judge reads out the court verdict July 31, 2017 which found guilty a military officer accused of killing minister in May 3, 2017. Photo: SONNA

An appellate military court in Mogadishu has upheld a lower court verdict handing death penalty to a military officer who killed former minister of Roads and Reconstruction Abbas Sheikh Siraj in May.

The military court found Constable Ahmed Abdullahi Aidid from the Somali National Army guilty of killing the minister at the entrance of the presidential palace May 3 this year affirming a lower court ruling June 19. The court had condemned the military man to face the firing squad.

“Considering the arguments between the government prosecutor and the lawyers defending the accused, the appellate court is clear that the appellant Constable Ahmed Abdullahi Abdi Aidid is guilty of his crime and upholds the decision of the 1st High Court for the Armed Forces,” a military judge said Monday.

The Court held that Aidid fired two rounds of ammunition at the minister’s car using an AK-47 riffle killing him instantly. The defendant was attached to the security team of former Auditor General Nur Jimale Farah who was later relieved of his duties by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.

President Farmaajo had ordered an inquiry into the killing of the minister who was seen by many in Somalia as a sign of hope for young people. Siraj had spent 20 years in Dadaab camp in Kenya’s north east and went to acquire a computer science degree from the University of Nairobi before heading back home where he was elected MP from Jubbaland in the 2016 elections. He was thereafter appointed minister by Prime Minister Hassan Khaire but his life was cut short in the evening of May 3 as he drove himself to Villa Somalia.

The 29 year old officer hails from Galgadud region in central Somalia.