The government of Somalia expelled two of the European Union employees, who were accused of illegally taking pictures of prisoners in a prison in Mogadishu.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Somalia has taken a decision on this worker, after receiving a request from the Attorney General Sulaiman Mohamed Mohamud, to expel the two men from the country.
The ministry named Jacek Jozef Ochman from Poland and Ralf Bernhard Gehlig from Germany and accused them of violating the laws and regulations of the country.
They are also accused of interfering in the internal affairs of Somalia.
The government has asked the European Union to bring the men out of Somalia within 72 hours. We found out that they left the country on Tuesday.
These two people were working for the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia).
Sources have confirmed that this expulsion is related, after taking pictures of 36 prisoners who are foreign fishermen who were accused of fishing illegally in Somali waters.
Foreign Minister Abshir Omar Jama said that Ochman and Gehlig visited the prisoners held by the Somali Maritime Police on April 30 and secretly took pictures of them.
“It is a crime to take secret photos of prisoners in security facilities in order to damage the reputation and honor of the nation,” said a letter issued by the minister of foreign affairs.
In March, Somalia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources issued a press release stating that foreign vessels have been illegally fishing in Somalia’s exclusive economic zone since January 2023.
