A court in Somaliland has handed a 5 year jail sentence to the self declared “King of Somaliland”  Osman Mohamud Burmaadow  a week after he returned to Hargeisa from an inauguration of a traditional leader in Puntland.
His arrest is linked to alleged anti-Somaliland sentiments he uttered in Armo, Puntland which the prosecution said amounted to “treason”
He was charged with uttering words that are “dangerous to Somaliland sovereignty”
He was arrested at the Mansour Hotel in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa and held at the  Koodhbuur police station before Thursday´s verdict.
The news of the verdict is likely to trigger demonstrations in his stronghold of El-Afwein town similar to what followed his arrest.
Somaliland has in the last fortnight jailed a prominent poet and activist Naima Qorane, Universal reporter Najib Abdiweli and author Mohamed Kayse Mohamud for perpetrating Anti Somaliland sentiments.
