Somalia

Journalist and social media activist Abdimalik Muse Oldon was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in Somalia’s self-declared state, Somaliland, despite the glaring absence of a plaintiff.

Armed individuals claiming to be with Somalia’s revenue authority forced their way into Universal television offices in Mogadishu and started shooting.

The arrest of 2 Somalian soldiers on charges of torturing and threatening two reporters, will go a long way in the fight against impunity.

RSF calls on authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland to take action against a police officer who tried to shoot radio station director Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, as well as the soldiers who threatened to kill him.

The situation for journalists in Somalia continues to deteriorate following a targeted bomb attack on Ismail Sheikh Khalifa, the founder and head of the organisation Human Rights Journalists.

Radio reporter Abdirizak Said Osman was stabbed to death by unknown attackers on 18 September as he left Voice of Peace, a local radio station in Galkayo, a city on Puntland’s southern border that is mostly controlled by the Puntland government.

Somaliland finally relents to release a blogger and journalist after a petition by fifteen regional freedom of expression organisations over the increasing spate of press freedom violations in the country.

Recent arrests of journalists and TV station shutdowns prompt human rights organisations to call on the President of Somaliland to put an end to the crackdown on press freedom rights.

Privately owned media outlets covering the territorial dispute over Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland are being harassed by authorities. Two TV channels were recently closed and journalists arrested.

A Somaliland regional court has sentenced journalists Mohamed Abdilaahi Dabshid and Ahmed Dirie Liltire, to two years of prison on charges of conducting propaganda against the state, bringing Somaliland into contempt and “bringing the flag or national emblem of a foreign state” into contempt, according to a statement by the Human Rights Center (HRC), which quoted the lawyer in the case, Abibakar Sheikh Mohamoud.

Somali authorities should immediately release Abdishakur Abdullahi Ahmed, also known as Shaasha, who works as a correspondent for the Nairobi-based RTN Somali TV channel and owns a local radio station, City FM, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

In 2017, the National Union of Somali Journalists recorded 4 journalists killed and 12 wounded. 22 journalists were arrested and 8 were beaten, or threatened with death or imprisonment.

Somaliland journalist Abdirisak Dayib Ali was arrested after responding to a police summons about a story published on Gabiley News that accused the city’s mayor, Mahamed Omar, of criminal activity.

Journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed, nicknamed Gabow, was killed by an improvised explosive device fitted to his car.

A regional court in Hargeisa sentenced Mohamed Adan Dirir on to 18 months in jail on charges of criminal defamation and publishing false news, and fined him one million Somaliland shillings,

Somali broadcast journalist Abdullahi Osman Moalim died from injuries sustained on 10 September when a suicide bomber attacked a café in Beldweyne where members of the press gather.