For the Somali politician executed for apostasy

Apostasy

Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...

 in 2009, see Abdirahman Ahmed

Abdirahman Ahmed

Abdirahman Ahmed was a Somali politician. He was executed by an Islamist militia for alleged apostasy. He was tried and convicted by a Sharia court, but was not allowed legal representation according to his family.-References:...

Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur (var. "Tur", "Tour", meaning "Hunchback") was a Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 politician. He was the first president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 (1991-1993) of the self-proclaimed but internationally unrecognized republic of Somaliland

Somaliland

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...

 in northern Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

.

Biography

Born in 1931, Tuur had been a diplomat and government official.

He later became the Chairman of the Somali National Movement

Somali National Movement

The Somali National Movement was a 1980s-1990s Somali rebel group. Founded and led by Isaaq members to protect the clan's interests, it was key in the formation of Somaliland, a self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia.-Formation:In April...

 (SNM), a guerilla force drawn from the Isaaq

Isaaq

The Isaaq is one of the main Somali clans. Members of the clan principally live in the northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The populations of five major cities of Somaliland – Hargeisa, Burco, Berbera, Ceerigaabo and Gabiley – are predominantly Isaaq...

 clan that was attempting to topple the military administration of former President of Somalia Siad Barre

Siad Barre

Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....

. Although the SNM at its inception had a unionist constitution

Constitution

A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

, it eventually began to pursue a separatist agenda, looking to secede from the rest of Somalia. Under Tuur's leadership, the local administration declared the northwestern Somali territories independent on 18 May 1991. He then became the newly-established Somaliland polity’s first President, but subsequently renounced the separatist platform in 1994 and began instead to publicly seek and advocate reconciliation with the rest of Somalia under a power-sharing federal

Federalism

Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...

 system of governance. Tuur also lent some support to the UNOSOM

UNOSOM

UNOSOM may refer to:* UNOSOM I* UNOSOM II* UNITAF* Operation Provide Relief See also Operation Deliverance, the concurrent Canadian operation...

 peace-building mission in the southern regions, which alienated him from Somaliland's succeeding government as well as many former followers.

When support for Tuur in southern Somalia failed to materialise, he was exiled to Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

for almost a decade, before returning to Somaliland on 10 February 2003, 9 months before his death on 8 November 2003.