Somalia: Family of disappeared Intelligence agent continues the fight for justice

The internal security minister Abdullahi Mohamed Nur received at his office the family of Ikran Sep 20 [Photo: State media]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The family of the disappeared National Intelligence and Security Agency [NISA] agent Ikran Tahlil continues to fight for justice by making every peaceful means to realize their goal.

On Wednesday, the family members held a closed-door meeting with the newly appointed Security Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Nur at his officer in Mogadishu, amid pressure to solve the controversial murder.

Qali Mohamud, who has been vocal about the death of her daughter, led other family members into the meeting where delivery of justice was extensively discussed. The mother has particularly asked authorities not to meddle with investigations.

While most details of the meeting still remain scanty, Nur was appointed to the office a fortnight ago by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who has substantially differed with a number of executive members on the mode of investigations.

PM Roble sacked Ambassador Hassan Hundubey Jimale and replaced him with Abdullahi Nur as a strategy to push for expedited justice to the family. Also, he fired NISA boss Fahad Yasin over the same matter, replacing him with Lieutenant General Bashir Mohamed Jamah alias Goobe.

While the changes were contested by outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, Roble has remained defiant, dismissed a directive by Farmaajo which purportedly suspended his powers.

Roble has been pushing for investigations by the military court, a move opposed by Farmaajo and his team. Farmaajo recently picked a Commission of Inquiry into the case by was outrightly rejected by the family of Ikran Tahlil.

The family has already sued Fahad Yasin, the immediate former NISA boss who has since been elevated to National Security Advisor in the presidency. The family maintains that the deceased was in contact with Yasin and other NISA colleagues prior to her abduction.

Yasin, a close ally of Farmaajo returned to Somalia on Tuesday after a trip to Turkey. Last week, the plane he was traveling into the country was turned away in Djibouti following instructions by top Somali security officials.

Sources told Garowe Online that Yasin and the commanders of security agencies held a meeting in The Villa Somalia on Tuesday. The meeting comes hours after Fahad arrived in the country.

The alleged death has evidently caused divisions within NISA and the executive, igniting pressure from international partners who want the differences between Farmaajo and PM Roble solved amicably. The country is currently holding elections.

GAROWE ONLINE