Seminar with Guleid Ahmed Jama

During the week Wilsons’ senior partner Michael Hanley and refugee law specialist Rachel Henson had the enormous privilege of meeting Guleid Ahmed Jama, a practising human rights lawyer from Somaliland. Guleid Ahmed Jama delivered a fascinating seminar at Garden Court Chambers which was attended by many leading barristers and representatives of prominent London law firms and also, Mr Joshua Le Vay a visiting attorney from Australia. The seminar was chaired by Stephanie Harrison QC and supported by Ronan Toal both of Garden Court. Guleid Ahmed Jama specialises in criminal defence and is the chairman of the highly regarded Human Rights Centre established in Hargeisa in 2013. The focus of the seminar was a balanced review of the constitutional and legal structures in Somaliland and an analysis of how the rule of law operates in a complex legal system involving parallel sources of law drawn from the civil code, customary law and Islamic law. Guleid Ahmed Jama has himself been arrested in Somaliland and has been internationally recognised as a frontline defender of human rights. He was detained for 19 days and his license to practice as a lawyer was suspended. He took his case to the Constitutional Court in Somaliland and his licence was reinstated on 11 June 2016. We look forward to developing a relationship with Guleid Ahmed Jama and the Human Rights Centre.