(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders condemns the 26 February 2009 arrest of Mohamed Abdi Guled, editor of the privately-owned weekly “Yool” appearing in Hargeisa, by police in the breakaway autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia. The journalist is being held on the premises of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Several journalists in Hargeisa said […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders condemns the 26 February 2009 arrest of Mohamed Abdi Guled, editor of the privately-owned weekly “Yool” appearing in Hargeisa, by police in the breakaway autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia. The journalist is being held on the premises of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Several journalists in Hargeisa said that Mohamed Abdi Guled, better known as “Urad,” was probably arrested as a result of the publication of an article on 24 February, exposing planned murder attempts against Somaliland’s parliamentary deputies, leaders of opposition parties and traditional chiefs.
“This arrest is illegal, since Somaliland’s media law lays down that the authorities can only arrest a journalist on the order of a court,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“In these circumstances and knowing that no charge has been brought against Mohamed Abdi Guled, he should logically be immediately released.”
His fellow journalists also said that the incident, forcing Urad to spend the weekend in custody without going before a court, was aimed at “intimidating the entire journalist community of Somaliland”.
