Somali journalist slain by unidentified gunmen

04 May 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost

Somali journalist Farhan Jeemis Abdulle was reportedly murdered by two unidentified men on Wednesday evening in Puntland. According to colleagues of the journalist, he received threats from an anonymous caller days before he was shot and killed on his way home from work. His colleagues allege that the local militant Islamic group Al-Shabab killed him for covering local programmes aimed at discouraging violence in youth. Local police are investigating the murder, but have not made any arrests yet.

Somalia: Puntland authorities free jailed reporter

01 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost

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.”