Radio Mandeeq director Hassan Mohamud Halane was arrested after returning from a workshop conducted by an international aid organisation.
(NUSOJ/IFEX) – The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns in its strongest terms the 9 October 2010 arrest of a radio director in the town of Beled Hawo, in the Gedo region of southwestern Somalia, by Al-Shabaab militants.
Hassan Mohamud Halane, who is the director of Radio Mandeeq in the town, was arrested on 9 October after he returned from a workshop in Hargeisa, Somaliland, which was conducted by an international aid organization. As of 10 October, he was still in jail. Al-Shabaab accused the director of attending the workshop in Hargeisa. So far, they have not brought him before a court.
Al-Shabaab previously arrested Mohamed Qani Hussein Kuusow, a stringer for Radio Shabelle and Radio Markabley, on 26 September in the same town. Kuusow was arrested after he filed a report with the Mogadishu-based Radio Shabelle and Radio Markabley, which is in Bardhere town, about reported military movements of the government forces based in the town of Doolow. The journalist remains in jail.
