(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC is concerned at the six-month sentence handed down to journalist Abdishakur Yusuf but is relieved that the prison term was commuted to a fine. Abdishakur, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Puntland-based newspaper “War- Ogaal”, was arrested on 21 April 2004. The detention was made in the wake of a “War-Ogaal” article […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC is concerned at the six-month sentence handed down to journalist Abdishakur Yusuf but is relieved that the prison term was commuted to a fine.
Abdishakur, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Puntland-based newspaper “War- Ogaal”, was arrested on 21 April 2004. The detention was made in the wake of a “War-Ogaal” article which claimed that the Puntland finance minister, Abdirahman Mohamud Farole, sold food in the United Arab Emirates that had been donated by the international community for distribution in Somalia. Abdishakur was subsequently sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for defamation. However, local human rights and journalist organisations persuaded the court to allow the sentence to be commuted to a fine.
After deducting the 40 days the journalist had already spent in custody, Abdishakur was required to pay 2.6m Somali Shilling (approx. US$140). He was released on 1 June. The journalist had suffered from malaria while in detention and, on his release, complained that his arrest had been “unfair and unjust.”