Somalia

Stand with Somalia’s journalists and send an email to the Prime Minister of Somalia today!

The arrest, persecution and sentence of Yusuf Abdi Gabobe and Ahmed Ali Igeh are based on outmoded pieces of the Somali Penal Code enacted during the military government to suppress dissent and promote authoritarian rule.

The draft media law threatens to undermine efforts by media professionals to establish genuine self-regulation. It fails to recognize the fast-moving reality of journalism and will discriminate against journalists working for foreign media.

Yusuf Ahmed Abukar Keynan was killed on the morning of 21 June 2014. One of his colleagues suspects the explosive device placed in his car was either remote-controlled or activated by turning on the vehicle.

In this podcast, representatives from two IFEX member organisations and a group in Somaliland provide context for the recent shutdown of Haatuf newspaper and The Somaliland Times, and consider how and if the trend can be reversed.

Somaliland’s Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Mr. Hussein Abdi Duale and Somaliland’s Minister of Interior, Ali Mohamed Waran Ade accuse Haatuf newspaper of spreading false information.

Mohamed Omar Mohamed, an advertising/marketing staffer for Radio Dalsan and activist at a local youth organisation, was murdered in Bakara Market on 21 April after being reportedly shot six times.

Before being blocked, www.haatuf.net and www.somalilandtimes.net had been publishing reports critical of the Somaliland presidency and ministers.

In the resolution, the ACHPR “strongly condemns the serious violations of the right to life committed against journalists and media practitioners” and appeals for “the immediate cessation of harassment and intimidation aimed at independent media organisations” in Somalia.

The National Union of Somali Journalists has voiced great concern over the Minister of Information’s formation of a committee to revise the draft media law. The committee is comprised mostly of individuals from the Ministry of Information, with little support from the media community.

It is widely believed that the closure of Haatuf newspaper newspaper was caused by its coverage of Somaliland ministers’s activities.

Nuradin Hassan Ibrahim, editor of SkyFM Radio in Mogadishu was arrested on 30 March by the federal police in Mogadishu. He was questioned on how his station obtained news about a passport stolen from an official stationed at the prime minister’s office.

The ratification follows a successful campaign by the Federation of Somali Trade Unions and its affiliated unions, including NUSOJ, that have pressed for a speedy ratification of ILO core conventions.

Veteran Somali journalist Mohamed A. Mudey has received a 27-year prison sentence in Ethiopia for alleged terrorist activity. Condemn this harsh sentence by adding your name to the petition for his immediate release.

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange condemns the 27-year sentence imposed on Mohamed Aweys Mudey and notes that the Ethiopian media environment is characterized by the arrest of journalists.

Hubaal newspaper in Hargeisa, Somaliland, has been closed since 13 December 2013, following a raid by the police rapid reinforcement unit (RRU). Police continue to occupy the newspaper’s headquarters.