Posts Tagged ‘Somalia’

Somalia: Journalists arrested in clampdown

December 6th, 2011

Two journalists have been arrested in Somalia after police refused to accept their press cards. Salad Tifow Hassan and Qadar Hussein Ahmed from privately-owned Radio Banadir were arrested by patrolling police officers who were patrolling in Mogadishu, and accused them of committing a security breach.Presenter Hassan and producer Ahmed were released on Sunday, with no explanation given for the actions against them. The arrests are the latest in a widespread clampdown by Somalian security forces that has resulted in the arrest and detention of three radio journalists in Mogadishu.

Somalia: Journalist killed in suicide bomb attack

October 12th, 2011

A radio journalist has been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Somalia. Abdiaziz Ahmed Aden, a reporter and newscaster for Radio Markabley was caught in the attack on 4 October, in which 100 people were killed, and over 100 injured. Aden was dispatched to the capital Mogadishu from the radio station’s base in the Bardhere district, in southwest Somalia, on 30 September to cover ongoing operations against Al-Shabaab militants. In the attack which killed the journalist, a suicide bomber drove a bomb-loaded truck into government ministry security barrier. Aden was initially reported as missing, but was later identified by his family.

Somalia: Radio journalist shot

September 16th, 2011

Unknown gunmen shot 20-year-old radio journalist Horriyo Abdulkadir Sheik Ali four times on Wednesday evening as she left her office at Radio Galkayo, the state broadcaster in the Garsoor neighborhood of Galkayo, Somalia. Abdulkadir is news editor, producer, and presenter for Radio Galkayo and a correspondent for Mogadishu-based Radio Risaale. A colleague said Abdulkadir had complained of repeated threats by unknown callers over her coverage of the conflict between government troops and militias.

Somalia: Radio presenter shot by soldier

August 10th, 2011

On August 4, Somali journalist Farah Hassan Sahal died after being shot by a soldier in Mogadishu. The Radio Simba presenter was caught in clashes between Al-Shabaab and government troops supported by the African Union.  According to the radio station director, Abdullah Ali Farah, Sahal was shot three times by a sniper while moving damaged equipment to a safer place.  

Somalia: Puntland authorities free jailed reporter

August 1st, 2011

Authorities in Puntland, Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous region, released reporter Faysal Mohamed Hassan on Sunday. Mohamed, who wrote for the private news site Hiiraan Online, was serving a prison sentence over a story claiming that two murdered men belonged to Puntland’s security personnel. The journalist had begun serving his one-year sentence in the port city of Bossasso following his 2nd July conviction on charges of endangering state security and publishing a “false news report.”

Journalist arrested in Puntland

July 1st, 2011

Authorities arrested Faysal Mohamed, a reporter for Hiraan Online, on Wednesday morning (29 June) in the semi-autonomous republic of Puntland in northern Somalia. Police told journalists that Mohamed was arrested for a “false news report” on Hiiraan Online. Fellow colleagues said they suspected the article in question was one published three days before the arrest, which hypothesised that two bodies recently discovered on a roadside were those of security personnel.

Somalia: Two radio stations silenced in twenty-four hours

June 24th, 2011

Members of the Sufi group, Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ), shut down Radio Dhusamareb of central Somalia on Wednesday evening. Seven masked intruders forced staff to evacuate the building and the station’s editor was arrested and taken into custody. He has now been released without charge. Less than 24 hours before the attack, Al Shabaab militants silenced the Voice of Hiran radio station in the town of Beletweyne.

Somalia: Journalist imprisoned on defamation charge

January 25th, 2011

The editor of Waheen daily newspaper has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of defamation and spreading false news. Mohamud Abdi Jama will also have to pay a US$900 fine, the charges stem from an article in which he accused a police chief, and a director of Somaliland Electric Agency of nepotism.