Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Somali security forces arrest five journalists in two days
Nairobi, January 5, 2015--Somali security forces arrested five journalists in two separate cases over the weekend in the capital, Mogadishu, according to news reports. Three of them are still being held.
On Saturday, security forces arrested three journalists from the independent radio station Radio Risaala and shut down the station, according to local journalists and news reports. The journalists--Director Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, Editor Mohamed Kafi Sheik Abukar, and reporter Mohamed Abdi Ali--were arrested in connection with a report Friday on a suspected Ebola patient living in the Lower Shabelle region of the country, the sources said. The Ministry of Health denied in a press briefing on Saturday that the individual had contracted Ebola. The three journalists have not been charged, according to local journalists.
The station is still shuttered. Government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman told CPJ the information ministry was negotiating with the security department for the journalists' release.
"Journalists should never be jailed for their work, which involves raising sensitive issues of public interest," said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes. "We call on authorities to immediately release Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, hamed Kafi Sheik Abukar, and Mohamed Abdi Ali."
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https://cpj.org/2015/01/somali-security-forces-arrest-five-journalists-in-.php
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Three journalists held for reporting possible Ebola case
PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY 6 JANUARY 2015.
Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of three radio journalists who have been held without charge since their arbitrary arrest in Mogadishu on 3 January for reporting the existence of a possible case of the Ebola virus in the Lower Shabelle region. Their independent radio station, Radio Risaala, has also been closed on the orders of the authorities.
The three journalists are Radio Risaala director Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, editor Mohamed Kafi Sheik Abukar and reporter Mohamed Abdi Ali. They were arrested after broadcasting an interview with an inhabitant of Mulo Sharay, a town in Lower Shabelle, about the possible Ebola case. At a press conference later the same day, health minister Ali Mohamed Mohamud categorically denied the existence of any Ebola case in Somalia.
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?We condemn these five arbitrary arrests and the closure of an independent news outlet, which constitute flagrant violations of freedom of the media and information, Reporters Without Borders deputy programme director Virginie Dangles said. We urge the authorities to free the three journalists still held without charge and to allow Radio Risaala to resume broadcasting. Journalists must be able to work freely, inform their fellow citizens and express public concerns without being threatened with jail as soon as they show an interest in public interest subjects of a sensitive nature.?
...
http://en.rsf.org/somalia-three-journalists-held-for-06-01-2015,47447.html
Nairobi, January 5, 2015--Somali security forces arrested five journalists in two separate cases over the weekend in the capital, Mogadishu, according to news reports. Three of them are still being held.
On Saturday, security forces arrested three journalists from the independent radio station Radio Risaala and shut down the station, according to local journalists and news reports. The journalists--Director Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, Editor Mohamed Kafi Sheik Abukar, and reporter Mohamed Abdi Ali--were arrested in connection with a report Friday on a suspected Ebola patient living in the Lower Shabelle region of the country, the sources said. The Ministry of Health denied in a press briefing on Saturday that the individual had contracted Ebola. The three journalists have not been charged, according to local journalists.
The station is still shuttered. Government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman told CPJ the information ministry was negotiating with the security department for the journalists' release.
"Journalists should never be jailed for their work, which involves raising sensitive issues of public interest," said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes. "We call on authorities to immediately release Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, hamed Kafi Sheik Abukar, and Mohamed Abdi Ali."
...
https://cpj.org/2015/01/somali-security-forces-arrest-five-journalists-in-.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three journalists held for reporting possible Ebola case
PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY 6 JANUARY 2015.
Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of three radio journalists who have been held without charge since their arbitrary arrest in Mogadishu on 3 January for reporting the existence of a possible case of the Ebola virus in the Lower Shabelle region. Their independent radio station, Radio Risaala, has also been closed on the orders of the authorities.
The three journalists are Radio Risaala director Mohamed Abdiwahab Abdullahi, editor Mohamed Kafi Sheik Abukar and reporter Mohamed Abdi Ali. They were arrested after broadcasting an interview with an inhabitant of Mulo Sharay, a town in Lower Shabelle, about the possible Ebola case. At a press conference later the same day, health minister Ali Mohamed Mohamud categorically denied the existence of any Ebola case in Somalia.
...
?We condemn these five arbitrary arrests and the closure of an independent news outlet, which constitute flagrant violations of freedom of the media and information, Reporters Without Borders deputy programme director Virginie Dangles said. We urge the authorities to free the three journalists still held without charge and to allow Radio Risaala to resume broadcasting. Journalists must be able to work freely, inform their fellow citizens and express public concerns without being threatened with jail as soon as they show an interest in public interest subjects of a sensitive nature.?
...
http://en.rsf.org/somalia-three-journalists-held-for-06-01-2015,47447.html