Somali refugee insists status should not interfere with bail application

A Somali who has been held under preventative arrest for two months has filed a bail application saying that the fact that he is a foreigner should not prejudice him from receiving bail.

Salem Hassan Suleiman was charged on December 2 with trafficking in cannabis in Paceville. He is claiming that he was asleep at the Marsa open centre during the alleged incident. His arrest came after another drug user declared that he had bought the drugs from Mr Suleiman.

Defence lawyer Joe Mifsud said that the fact that his client lived in an open centre should not have any bearing on the decision whether or not to grant bail.

Referring to the comments made by a United Nations delegation that was recently in Malta to report on the detention centres, Dr Mifsud said that the people who were undergoing criminal proceedings should be treated in the same way as Maltese citizens. He added that whenever bail was requested by his client, it was turned down, on the basis that he escaped from his country and so might escape from Malta.

Mr Suleiman was a refugee in Malta because of the dire situation in Somalia and he was ready to abide by any regulation as set down by the courts, he said.