Somalia arrests Shabelle staffers over insecurity report

The Ministry of Information deemed the March 22 report "factually incorrect and aiding the terrorists."

News editor Abdi Mohammed Ismail and director Abdirashid Omar Qase were arrested upon their arrival at security agency headquarters in Mogadishu and were denied access to food, legal representation, and family, Ali Dahir, Shabelle's head of development, told CPJ.

Other broadcasters air similar reports

Other local radio stations and the US government-funded broadcaster Voice of America aired similar reports that said President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's travels had been restricted by insecurity, local journalists said. Shabelle stood by its reporting.

Abdimalik Yusuf, chairman of Shabelle Media, told CPJ the Interior Ministry ordered the media house on Monday to publicly apologise for the report and to sign a letter stating that they would refrain from negative reporting about the government. Yusuf told CPJ he refused. Phone calls seeking comment from the Interior Ministry went unanswered.

CPJ seeks explanation, release

"The government must explain why it is holding our two colleagues incommunicado," said CPJ East Africa consultant Tom Rhodes. "In the meantime, it must release them immediately. If it disputes the radio station's reporting it can say so without locking up journalists."

The weak transitional federal government has fought a protracted war with the hard-line insurgency Al-Shabaab and other militant groups, which have controlled vast portions of the country. In 2010, Radio Shabelle clandestinely transferred its operations from Mogadishu's Bakara Market, which was controlled by Al-Shabaab, to the government-controlled part of the city.

Article published courtesy of CPJ.org