Bioengineering scientist gets his Norwegian citizenship case before the court

Mahad Abib MahamudMahad Abib Mahamud. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB scanpix

The bioengineering scientist, Mahad Abib Mahamud, will receive support from Somalia’s parliamentary president, and ambassador to the EU, when the nationality case goes to trial.

On Tuesday, he stands in Oslo District Court, and faces charges from the State that he supplied information to the Immigration Department that was contrary to the truth.

The State has decided that the 30-year-old bioengineer should be deprived of his Norwegian citizenship, because they believe he lied on his application when he arrived in the country 17 years ago. Norwegian authorities say that Mahamud is from Djibouti, not Somalia, and that Mahamud’s father has confirmed this.

Three days have been set for the case hearing.

Mahamud has always maintained that he is from Somalia. Before the trial, told NTB news agency that he is looking forward to presenting his evidence.

‘It will become a day to remember, a day for the rule of law’, he said.

The 30-year-old will present a letter from Mohammad Osman Jawari, president of Somalia’s national assembly. In the letter, Jawari vouches for the bioengineer’s explanation.

Mahamud’s father was an officer in the Somali Air Force, and his son was born in Mogadishu, the air force headquarters, said the letter, which was also signed by a brigadier in the air force.

Somalia’s ambassador to the EU, Ali Said Faqi, has also confirmed that Mahamud is Somalian. Faqi has previously assisted Norwegian authorities in verifying the identity of Somalis that Norway should deport to the homeland.

Mahamud believes it will attract attention whether or not the information is emphasised in the press.

The case has attracted a lot of attention, and was an important part of the debate about changing the law so that nationality issues are handled by the courts, and not by government agencies alone.

The case against the 30-year-old started after police in Vestoppland received a tip-off in July 2013, according to TV2. The tip led to the Directorate of Immigration beginning investigations, and it ended up with Mahamud being deprived of his Norwegian
citizenship.

The individual who gave the original tip-off to the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has argued that since Mahamud was not imprisoned for an alleged crime, he had to be a Djiboutian spy.

UDI stated that they are aware that tip-offs may come from individuals with revenge motives, or they may be due to misunderstandings. Therefore, many tip-offs do not lead to any follow-up activity, it said on the UDI website.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today