There is a distinct possiblity that nowhere is safe!!
Somaliland sentences German to four years for porn
13 January 2011 Last updated at 18:17
A German man has been jailed for four years for making pornographic films in the breakaway Somaliland republic.
A judge said Gunter Bischoss, 72, was guilty of unIslamic behaviour and also fined him $10,000 (£6,300).
"The evidence in this case has been exaggerated and I will appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court," AFP news agency quoted Mr Bischoss as saying.
A Somali woman who appeared in some of the home videos was also given a one-year jail term and a $900 fine.
'Never allowed back'
The BBC's Ahmed Said Egeh in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, says the trial was held outside the city in the prison of Mandhera for security reasons.
"After serving his prison term, he will be deported from Somaliland and never allowed back again," the judge said.
Somaliland has been relatively stable since it declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after the overthrown of Somali President Siad Barre.
Although the region is not recognised internationally, it has its own working political system, government institutions, currency, police force and judiciary.
Much of the rest of Somalia, which has suffered two decades of fighting and clan warfare, is now controlled by Islamist groups which have imposed strict Sharia law in recent years.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
More fraud? Really??!!
By Michael Seamark and Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 1:54 AM on 11th January 2011
Swindler is handed four-and-a-half year jail term for 'professionally planned' benefit scam
Her harrowing account of being brutally gang-raped by armed militiamen in Somalia won Amina Muse refuge in Britain.
The mother-of-six, whose asylum application graphically described her brothers being shot dead in front of her, was later given UK citizenship because of the ‘appalling atrocities’.
But the terrifying ordeal, like her identity, was completely bogus – it was merely a front for an elaborate benefit fraud that cost taxpayers more than £400,000.
On the day that Muse claimed that armed men stormed her family home in East Africa she was giving birth in Sweden.
The 38-year-old, who investigators suspect might actually be Kenyan, conned that country out of £50,000.
She spent the money on luxury living, flying between Stockholm and London to perpetuate her scam.
In Britain, she applied for every welfare benefit possible under her false name and claimed further UK handouts using the bogus identity she had adopted to secure a Swedish passport.
Yesterday she was jailed for four and a half years after a jury convicted her of a string of fraud charges.
The judge said the sentence would have been harsher but for consideration of the welfare of Muse’s children, the ‘real victims in this case’.
The court was told she cannot be deported because she is a British citizen. Last night there were demands that the Home Office, which is reviewing her status, remove her from this country.
Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘This kind of scam brings the whole asylum system into complete disrepute.
‘It’s no wonder there is no confidence in the authorities to properly control our borders and stop our hospitality being abused.
‘The fact that this woman’s future status in this country is in any doubt whatsoever is unbelievable.
There can’t be one person in this country who doesn’t want her kicked out of the country and never allowed back.’
Harrow Crown Court heard that Muse had sought refuge in Britain after eight years of ‘comfortable’ living in Sweden.
On her 2003 asylum application, she claimed militiamen targeted her family home in December 1998 because she was a member of a minority group.
‘They opened fire at us and then broke into our house by force,’ she said. ‘They shot dead my
Besides the murder of her two brothers, she said her niece had been raped, tortured and beaten and that she herself had been gang-raped while three months’ pregnant, leading to a miscarriage.
Between June 2004 and May 2010, Muse, from Neasden, North-West London, claimed £261,358.14 in income support, disability living allowance for one of her children and carer’s allowance for herself.
The total included child benefit, child tax credits and housing benefit from various councils.
She received £112,985.51 from the borough of Camden and lived in a four-bedroom property there.
Judge Stephen Holt, sentencing Muse, told her: ‘One of the most serious aspects of this case is your cynical, dishonest manipulation of the whole system of asylum.’
Condemning her deceit, he said: ‘It was fraud from the outset. It was professionally planned. Your actions harm the people who really do need and deserve asylum.
‘In total you took somewhere in the region of £261,358.14 from the British taxpayer and have shown absolutely no remorse.’
Investigating the case cost taxpayers a further £150,000.
Muse had denied obtaining money transfers by deception, fraud by false representation, 12 counts of making false representations, four counts of receiving overpayments of benefits and five counts of fraud.
Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said: ‘It is absolutely essential in a case like this that her citizenship be revoked and she should be removed.
‘All scams of this kind are deeply offensive to the public and undermine support for genuine refugees. It seems to have been a deeply cynical scam from the start.
TIMELINE:
1995: Arrives in Sweden with three children and given passport in her false name, Ayan Abdulle. Has two more children in Sweden and one in Denmark.
2003: using another bogus name, Amina Muse, she applies for asylum in Britain. Original claim rejected.
2004: Decision overturned on appeal and given indefinite leave to remain in UK. She starts claiming £261358 in benefits.
2009: Granted British citizenship
Sunday, 2 January 2011
What happened next? The destitute asylum seeker
At the Red Cross Centre in Birmingham, asylum seekers are given £10 food vouchers. Photograph: Fabio De Paola
Amelia Gentleman The Guardian, Monday 27 December 2010
In June, Abdi was living rough on a weekly £10 food voucher. Has his life improved since then?
Abdi appears to have good news when I call him. Three weeks ago, just as the temperatures began to drop below freezing, a friend said he could sleep on the floor of his room for a while. After a year on the streets of Birmingham, this marked a significant turn for the better. However, as he talks, it becomes clear that life has not improved much.
Originally from Somalia, Abdi (who prefers not to give his real name), 34, has been in the UK for two years. For the first year, while his application for asylum was being processed, he received state support, but a year ago the application was rejected. Since then he has been surviving without any money from the state, without anywhere to live, not permitted to work. Homelessness hostels are not allowed to offer him a bed, because he is classified as an illegal migrant.
"Before I was living outside. Now I am living inside, but the difference is very, very minor," he says, laughing and coughing down the telephone. He has been unwell since the cold weather began. The flat where his friend sleeps has no heating, no proper plumbing and is extremely dirty, says Abdi. "When I was outside, I'd never see rats. Inside the flat, the rats jump on me."
When I met Abdi in the summer, he was rotating the places he slept, according to the weather conditions, anxious to avoid arousing suspicion by sleeping in the same place too often. Sometimes he would hide in a toilet cubicle in a Birmingham mosque, until the building was locked up for the night, and he could sleep undisturbed for a few hours; sometimes he slept in an alleyway, accessible only by climbing over spiked park railings; and sometimes on a cardboard box at the top of a concrete council block staircase.
A few weeks ago, when he was sleeping in the stairway, he thinks a rat or possibly a mouse bit him, giving him an infection in his leg which has made it painful to walk. His friend, a fellow asylum seeker, took pity on him and is letting him sleep on his floor for the moment, until he gets better, but the friend's tenancy comes to an end in January, so both men will shortly be forced to find somewhere new. Where will he go? "This is a very difficult question," he says.
The only income he gets is a weekly £10 Morrisons voucher from the Red Cross. Officially, he is allowed to remain while he prepares to appeal against the Home Office decision to reject his asylum claim, but he is not eligible for any help. He prefers living in destitution here to the alternative, proposed by the Home Office, of returning to Somalia. "If you understand that it is a choice between living here in this way and going back to be slaughtered, then you understand that there is no choice," he says.
He is gathering documents to support his appeal but the process is exceptionally slow, and hampered by the fact that getting any free legal support is increasingly difficult, and by practical obstacles such as not having enough money to spend time in an internet cafe researching his case. He remains hopeful that his appeal will eventually be approved (last year 28% of people who appealed against their refusal were granted leave to remain), but after a year of sleeping on the street, his optimistic outlook has been badly bruised. "It's very complicated. It is so sad," he says.
Joseph Nibizi, manager at the Red Cross destitution clinic where the vouchers are distributed every week, says he is angry that Abdi remains on the streets. He has seen the number of destitute asylum seekers queuing up for emergency help at the centre rise from 860 in January to 1,400 in July. "These people are not here because they are attracted by the [welfare] system in this country. They are here because they have run away from persecution. You can't starve them out of the country, you can't expect them to return home because they are hungry. They won't go," he says. He believes the government should support asylum seekers while they go through the process of appealing a decision. "These are human beings. They should be given their basic needs."
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Nine Birmingham charity workers in court on fraud and money laundering charges
Dec 4 2010 by Catherine Lillington, Birmingham Mail
SEVEN men and two female former workers from a Birmingham charity have appeared before city magistrates charged with conspiracy to defraud and launder money.
Mohammed Hassan Abdi Arwo, aged 52, and Abdi Wahab Said, aged 34, both of Waldrons Moor, Kings Heath, Hamud Hirad Yassin, aged 58, of Wembley, London, Sahra Abdillahi Absia, aged 60, of Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, Asha Ali Mohammed, aged 47, and Abdillahi Musa Abdi, aged 53, both of Greenway Street, Bordesley Green, Abdirahman Arwo, aged 37, of Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Mustafe Hassan Arwo, aged 41, of Gaddesby Road, Small Heath and Kaise Ismail, aged 36, of Stoney Road, in Perry Barr, all worked for the Aston Brook Housing Association.
The charity provides help for the Somali refugee community.
All nine ex-employees were granted conditional bail and told to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on February 25.
SEVEN men and two female former workers from a Birmingham charity have appeared before city magistrates charged with conspiracy to defraud and launder money.
Mohammed Hassan Abdi Arwo, aged 52, and Abdi Wahab Said, aged 34, both of Waldrons Moor, Kings Heath, Hamud Hirad Yassin, aged 58, of Wembley, London, Sahra Abdillahi Absia, aged 60, of Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, Asha Ali Mohammed, aged 47, and Abdillahi Musa Abdi, aged 53, both of Greenway Street, Bordesley Green, Abdirahman Arwo, aged 37, of Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Mustafe Hassan Arwo, aged 41, of Gaddesby Road, Small Heath and Kaise Ismail, aged 36, of Stoney Road, in Perry Barr, all worked for the Aston Brook Housing Association.
The charity provides help for the Somali refugee community.
All nine ex-employees were granted conditional bail and told to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on February 25.
Asylum seeker housing charity has contracts terminated
May 22 2008
By Shahid Naqvi
A Birmingham charity which is the biggest in the country for providing housing to asylum seekers is facing closure after losing Government contracts worth £11 million in the wake of a fraud inquiry.
Astonbrook Housing Association based on Moseley Road, Highgate, is being investigated by police following allegations of misuse of public funds.
The Charity Commission - a watchdog that regulates UK charities - put the association under the interim management of Birmingham accountants Baker Tilly last year.
On Wednesday, 15 people were dismissed by the accountancy firm which also terminated Astonbrook’s lucrative five-year contract with the Home Office this week, effectively cutting off its income.
Last night the Astonbrook - most of whose 150 staff are Somalian - hit back claiming it had been victimised by the Charity Commission because it was a black-run charity.
It also accused Baker Tilly of siphoning off £1 million in fees while overseeing its destruction and stressed no charges had been brought despite a year-long investigation.
Saeed Omar, director of Astonbrook, said: "It is the biggest charity to be run by black and ethnic minorities. We have been discriminated against. We feel the Charity Commission took our charity and gave it to someone who sucked out our money.
"They sucked out our money without doing anything. Baker Tilly ran the company for a year. Their duty was to look after the charity and preserve it until new trustees were appointed.
"They have destroyed the charity and nobody will speak about the £1 million they have taken. We feel Baker Tilly handed back the contract to stop anyone investigating this."
Astonbrook - which was set up by a group of former Somali asylum seekers in 2002 - gained the biggest Government contract to provide homes for asylum seekers two years ago.
Since then it has received almost £20 million in public money providing accommodation for refugees in the Midlands, South West, Wales and Yorkshire.
But the charity - which also has an office in Erdington - was raided by police last July following concerns raised by Birmingham City Council and the Home Office. Seven managers were arrested and released on bail.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: "This is a long and complex investigation and any charges will be communicated in the usual manner."
Baker Tilly last night refuted the criticisms made by Mr Omar.
"We categorically reject any suggestion undermining our undertaking as interim managers of Astonbrook which has been a challenging and complex project involving an ongoing fraud investigation which remains current.
"The fees and costs involved, which have been approved by our appointers the Charity Commission, have not in any way impacted upon services to the beneficiaries of the charity who remain our priority."
The UK Border Agency - a Home Office department responsible for immigration control - said it made "no apologies for demanding that tax payers get value for their money and asylum seekers receive an adequate service".
The Charity Commission said it would release full details about the case when the inquiry reached its conclusion
Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/05/22/asylum-seeker-housing-charity-has-contracts-terminated-65233-20945583/#ixzz19o8kI6nh
By Shahid Naqvi
A Birmingham charity which is the biggest in the country for providing housing to asylum seekers is facing closure after losing Government contracts worth £11 million in the wake of a fraud inquiry.
Astonbrook Housing Association based on Moseley Road, Highgate, is being investigated by police following allegations of misuse of public funds.
The Charity Commission - a watchdog that regulates UK charities - put the association under the interim management of Birmingham accountants Baker Tilly last year.
On Wednesday, 15 people were dismissed by the accountancy firm which also terminated Astonbrook’s lucrative five-year contract with the Home Office this week, effectively cutting off its income.
Last night the Astonbrook - most of whose 150 staff are Somalian - hit back claiming it had been victimised by the Charity Commission because it was a black-run charity.
It also accused Baker Tilly of siphoning off £1 million in fees while overseeing its destruction and stressed no charges had been brought despite a year-long investigation.
Saeed Omar, director of Astonbrook, said: "It is the biggest charity to be run by black and ethnic minorities. We have been discriminated against. We feel the Charity Commission took our charity and gave it to someone who sucked out our money.
"They sucked out our money without doing anything. Baker Tilly ran the company for a year. Their duty was to look after the charity and preserve it until new trustees were appointed.
"They have destroyed the charity and nobody will speak about the £1 million they have taken. We feel Baker Tilly handed back the contract to stop anyone investigating this."
Astonbrook - which was set up by a group of former Somali asylum seekers in 2002 - gained the biggest Government contract to provide homes for asylum seekers two years ago.
Since then it has received almost £20 million in public money providing accommodation for refugees in the Midlands, South West, Wales and Yorkshire.
But the charity - which also has an office in Erdington - was raided by police last July following concerns raised by Birmingham City Council and the Home Office. Seven managers were arrested and released on bail.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: "This is a long and complex investigation and any charges will be communicated in the usual manner."
Baker Tilly last night refuted the criticisms made by Mr Omar.
"We categorically reject any suggestion undermining our undertaking as interim managers of Astonbrook which has been a challenging and complex project involving an ongoing fraud investigation which remains current.
"The fees and costs involved, which have been approved by our appointers the Charity Commission, have not in any way impacted upon services to the beneficiaries of the charity who remain our priority."
The UK Border Agency - a Home Office department responsible for immigration control - said it made "no apologies for demanding that tax payers get value for their money and asylum seekers receive an adequate service".
The Charity Commission said it would release full details about the case when the inquiry reached its conclusion
Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/05/22/asylum-seeker-housing-charity-has-contracts-terminated-65233-20945583/#ixzz19o8kI6nh
Saturday, 25 December 2010
SHARAXII LATUMEY SHEEKAA KA DAMBEYSEY...
This blog has covered in detail how the Somali community in the Diaspora has struggled to engage with matters of complexity away from the influences of their homeland.
Considering how the improvisational theatre productions of the 1960s/70s/80s covered these matters at length, it is all the more worrying that the Somali community appears to have stagnated. There is a tragic inability to [a] logically analyse issues in detail and [b] find a consistent solution to a problem. This is confounded by the inability of Somalis in general to tackle these issues in their mother tounge.
The work of Xasan Ganey in the theatre production Waa Maadays Adduunyadu Dadkuna Wey Matelayaan is based on the popular poem of the same name; you can see excerpts of this work here, here and here. The live performances of the play took place in 1984, the topics discussed and the language used still resonates today. People quote sections of the work as examples of how the Somali language has appeared to have deterirorated over the last twenty five years.
The comparison between this work and the kind of stuff that passes for analysis these days is stark. You could write a PHd. thesis about how the standards have dropped when you consider the premise behind the Dhig ama Dhaqo film [click here for the full effect]. The drop in standards is also evident when you look at talk shows [click here to listen to a mess] and articles [click here for a poorly written piece] on topics like divorce.
The title of this blog post has a double meaning; for matters like divorce Somalis should consider the detailed analysis that has been illustrated in the culture by the society's intellectuals. For example, on divorce why not suggest that SHARAXII LATUMEY SHEEKAA KA DAMBEYSEY? There is a stunning lack of appreciation within the community, and possibly wider society, of the difference between the sacred and profane. These two spheres of our lives should be mutually exclusive; for example one should marry according to the traditions of their culture and the rituals of their religion. One should not marry on the basis of how someone looks, or how much money can be made or to cement a relationship between two people that has struggled along for a questionable period of time. Now it is one thing to understand, appreciate and act on the basis of one's understanding of their culture, religion and way of life. It is another to act on the kinds of whims and desires that are encouraged by a particular group who dress these matters up as being socially acceptable.
What is socially acceptable for Somalis in the UK and possible the Diaspora at large? Eeking out an existence on state benefits because having money is fundamental to our way of life. What is unacceptable? Well your child should go out and live in a hostel so that he/she can eventually be on the register for a home from the borough council. Should your child not want this and should he/she wish to entertain a life outside of benefit dependency than this is unacceptable. In this envrionment, a child is taught that this kind of wrong [lying and cheating to maintain the mirage of benefit dependency]to maintain a standard of living is right. Problem is that when you start telling your children lying and cheating is acceptable, then they will stray into other areas where this could be affirmed. The high levels of criminality within the Somali community are down to the lack of a coherent message being communicated by parents to their children as to what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in the public sphere of life.
It is frankly pathetic that prominent intellectuals in the secular liberal capitalist nations of the developed world decry the influeces of the commodification of the human soul and Somalis are still clinging onto the benefits of the system. This is not new though, you see Xasan Ganey, Axmed Sulimaan Bide, Sangub et al identified the flaws in the neo-liberal order over 25 years ago.
Considering how the improvisational theatre productions of the 1960s/70s/80s covered these matters at length, it is all the more worrying that the Somali community appears to have stagnated. There is a tragic inability to [a] logically analyse issues in detail and [b] find a consistent solution to a problem. This is confounded by the inability of Somalis in general to tackle these issues in their mother tounge.
The work of Xasan Ganey in the theatre production Waa Maadays Adduunyadu Dadkuna Wey Matelayaan is based on the popular poem of the same name; you can see excerpts of this work here, here and here. The live performances of the play took place in 1984, the topics discussed and the language used still resonates today. People quote sections of the work as examples of how the Somali language has appeared to have deterirorated over the last twenty five years.
The comparison between this work and the kind of stuff that passes for analysis these days is stark. You could write a PHd. thesis about how the standards have dropped when you consider the premise behind the Dhig ama Dhaqo film [click here for the full effect]. The drop in standards is also evident when you look at talk shows [click here to listen to a mess] and articles [click here for a poorly written piece] on topics like divorce.
The title of this blog post has a double meaning; for matters like divorce Somalis should consider the detailed analysis that has been illustrated in the culture by the society's intellectuals. For example, on divorce why not suggest that SHARAXII LATUMEY SHEEKAA KA DAMBEYSEY? There is a stunning lack of appreciation within the community, and possibly wider society, of the difference between the sacred and profane. These two spheres of our lives should be mutually exclusive; for example one should marry according to the traditions of their culture and the rituals of their religion. One should not marry on the basis of how someone looks, or how much money can be made or to cement a relationship between two people that has struggled along for a questionable period of time. Now it is one thing to understand, appreciate and act on the basis of one's understanding of their culture, religion and way of life. It is another to act on the kinds of whims and desires that are encouraged by a particular group who dress these matters up as being socially acceptable.
What is socially acceptable for Somalis in the UK and possible the Diaspora at large? Eeking out an existence on state benefits because having money is fundamental to our way of life. What is unacceptable? Well your child should go out and live in a hostel so that he/she can eventually be on the register for a home from the borough council. Should your child not want this and should he/she wish to entertain a life outside of benefit dependency than this is unacceptable. In this envrionment, a child is taught that this kind of wrong [lying and cheating to maintain the mirage of benefit dependency]to maintain a standard of living is right. Problem is that when you start telling your children lying and cheating is acceptable, then they will stray into other areas where this could be affirmed. The high levels of criminality within the Somali community are down to the lack of a coherent message being communicated by parents to their children as to what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in the public sphere of life.
It is frankly pathetic that prominent intellectuals in the secular liberal capitalist nations of the developed world decry the influeces of the commodification of the human soul and Somalis are still clinging onto the benefits of the system. This is not new though, you see Xasan Ganey, Axmed Sulimaan Bide, Sangub et al identified the flaws in the neo-liberal order over 25 years ago.
Police arrest suspected Somali terrorists in Rotterdam
This is believed to be linked to an attempt to behead the controversial political figure Geert Wilders.
AFP - 25/12/2010
Twelve Somalis suspected of terrorist activities have been arrested in Rotterdam, Dutch officials said Saturday. The arrests were made after a tip-off by Dutch intelligence that the Somalis could commit attacks "in the near future". By News Wires (text) AFP - Twelve Somalis suspected of involvement in terrorist activities have been arrested in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands prosecution service said on Saturday.
A statement said the arrests were made late Friday following a tip-off by Dutch intelligence "that a number of Somalis wanted to commit a terrorist attack in the Netherlands in the near future".
The arrested Somalis were aged between 19 and 48, the statement said. Six lived in Rotterdam, five had no known address and one was a Danish resident.
A shop and four houses were searched in Rotterdam and two motel rooms in the southern town of Gilze-Rijen, but no weapons or explosives were found, prosecutors said.
The men "are being questioned," prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.
"They will be brought before a judge within three days to decide whether or not to keep them in custody."
De Bruin said more arrests were not on the cards "for now".
Dutch news agency ANP quoted the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism as saying the arrests did not warrant changing the country's terror threat level from "limited".
AFP - 25/12/2010
Twelve Somalis suspected of terrorist activities have been arrested in Rotterdam, Dutch officials said Saturday. The arrests were made after a tip-off by Dutch intelligence that the Somalis could commit attacks "in the near future". By News Wires (text) AFP - Twelve Somalis suspected of involvement in terrorist activities have been arrested in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands prosecution service said on Saturday.
A statement said the arrests were made late Friday following a tip-off by Dutch intelligence "that a number of Somalis wanted to commit a terrorist attack in the Netherlands in the near future".
The arrested Somalis were aged between 19 and 48, the statement said. Six lived in Rotterdam, five had no known address and one was a Danish resident.
A shop and four houses were searched in Rotterdam and two motel rooms in the southern town of Gilze-Rijen, but no weapons or explosives were found, prosecutors said.
The men "are being questioned," prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.
"They will be brought before a judge within three days to decide whether or not to keep them in custody."
De Bruin said more arrests were not on the cards "for now".
Dutch news agency ANP quoted the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism as saying the arrests did not warrant changing the country's terror threat level from "limited".
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