(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders welcomes the release of journalist Fahad Mohamed Abukar of Radio Warsan, but condemns the arrest of two other journalists from the same radio station, Abdulkadir Barre Moallim and Nur Barre, as well as brutality against freelance journalist Idle Moallim Omar in Bossasso, Puntland. “The release of Fahad Mohamed Abukar is […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders welcomes the release of journalist Fahad Mohamed Abukar of Radio Warsan, but condemns the arrest of two other journalists from the same radio station, Abdulkadir Barre Moallim and Nur Barre, as well as brutality against freelance journalist Idle Moallim Omar in Bossasso, Puntland.
“The release of Fahad Mohamed Abukar is an inadequate step on the part of the Baidoa authorities since two of his colleagues – Mohammed Adawe Adam and Muktar Mohammed Atosh – are still in custody and two others were arrested,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“We remind the Somali transitional government as well as the authorities in Puntland that brutality and unfair arrests will only alienate the entire press and tarnish their image”.
Fahad Mohamed Abukar was freed on 28 October 2006, after having his camera, tape-recorder and mobile phone returned to him, Reporters Without Borders learned from its Somali partner organisation, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
On the same day, Idle Moallim Omar, who works for the Swedish-hosted website http://www.somaliwyen.com , was brutally beaten by security guards employed by General Adde Muse, President of the self-proclaimed state of Puntland, at the Panorama Hotel in Bossasso. He was taken to hospital for treatment.
Police arrested Abdulkadir Barre Moallim and Nur Barre on 29 October on the orders of Haji Mohamud Barbar, governor of the Bay region in the south of the country, before being released in the early evening. The governor had complained to the director of Radio Warsan, Abdifatah Mohammed Ibrahim, after the radio station broadcast news relating to the swearing in of a member of the local council of Bay region.
