SEPTEMBER 26, 2005
Posted October 17, 2005
Awale Jama Salad, STN
IMPRISONED
Authorities in the Puntland city of Bossasso arrested an STN radio editor in connection with his reporting on prison conditions, according to the Somali journalists union NUSOJ and a local source. Awale Jama Salad was detained for the second time in recent months.
The arrest stems from Awale Jama’s reports in July on his previous imprisonment, according to NUSOJ and the local source. Those reports, broadcast on STN and picked up by some local newspapers, alleged that officials at Bossasso prison were taking bribes to free prisoners, and that conditions in the jail were so bad they were causing the spread of disease. Authorities are accusing Awale Jama of defamation and publishing false information, although he has not been officially charged, NUSOJ said.
Awale Jama was jailed in Bossasso central prison for nearly two weeks in July, along with Sheekh Aduun, director of the local radio affiliate of the private STN network, and STN reporter Mohamed Ilke Ase. Local sources told CPJ that their imprisonment stemmed from the radio station’s reporting on the mayoral campaign in Bossasso. They were later freed without charge.
In May, the Puntland government banned the weekly newspaper Shacab following a campaign of harassment. When editor Abdi Farah Nur tried to defy the ban in June, he was imprisoned for more than two weeks without charge. He fled the country in fear for his security and Shacab remains closed.