Somalia

Authorities in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland arrested two journalists from privately owned television stations last week after they each aired coverage of a protest in the northwest town of Gabiley, local journalists told CPJ. Authorities arrested Horn Cable TV reporter Mukhtar Nouh Ibrahim on October 30 and SomSat TV reporter Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud the following day, news...

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has welcomed the release on bail of two Shabelle Media Network journalists and called on authorities to free the two other journalists still behind bars. Abdimalik Yusuf, chairman of the Shabelle Media Network, and Ahmed Abdi Hassan, deputy editor of Radio Shabelle, were freed on bail after the Deputy Attorney General Mohamed Hassan stated on...

Unknown gunmen shot the Mogadishu Bureau Chief for the independent, U.K.-based Somali Channel Television on October 12, 2014, outside his home in the Howlwadaag neighborhood in the capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports. Abdirisak Jama had just returned from work and was sitting outside his home when gunmen drove past in a vehicle and shot him repeatedly in the stomach...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), have condemned the attempted murder of senior Somali journalist and TV personality, Abdirisak Jama Elmi (Black), on October 12. According to reports, Elmi, director of Somali Channel TV office in Mogadishu, was attacked when he was leaving his house in Howl-Wadag district. The TV journalist was...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the review of the new press law in Somalia which has been widely condemned as repressive and an attempt to silence independent reporting. The call was made during an Interactive Dialogue on the report of the Independent Expert, Bahame Tom Nyanduga, on the situation of human rights in Somalia which took place at the 27th Session of UN...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has welcomed the release of German-American journalist Michael Scott Moore, who was kidnapped by Somali pirates in the city of Galkayo in January 2012. Moore's abduction was not previously reported by most media outlets at the request of those seeking his release. The German magazine Spiegel Online reported that a crisis team from the German Foreign Ministry...

Somali journalist Hassan Gessey, a radio director at the independent Dalsan Radio, is being held without charge by the National Intelligence and Security Agency after criticising a directive to restrict reporting on military operations, according to news reports and local journalists. Armed members of the security services arrested Hassan and Abubakar Moyhedin, a presenter and staff manager, at...

The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the detention of three Shabelle Media Network journalists and the closure of their station. Security agents arrested 19 individuals at the network's offices in the capital Mogadishu on August 15, and removed the transmitters of Radio Shabelle and Sky FM, two stations in the Shabelle Media Network, according to news reports and local...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the severe and unwarranted action of Somali security forces who last Friday raided and closed independent radio stations in Mogadishu and arrested 19 media workers. Sixteen of the journalists were subsequently released, but three are still being held. The IFJ has demanded that the three remaining journalists are released immediately...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed its deep concern about two new laws which have been passed in Somalia and its Puntland region that will damage and undermine press freedom and freedom of expression across the country. According to IFJ affiliate, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), yesterday, 22 July, the Puntland Parliament gave its sudden approval to a...