On August 3, 2025, Mahad Mohamed Abdirahman, a journalist with privately owned Daash Somali TV, was briefly taken into custody by police in Mogadishu before being released unconditionally. He was arrested alongside two other journalists, Osman Abdullahi Mohamed and Hussein Isse Mohamed, both with privately owned SMS Somalia TV. The two were held for 49 hours, according to Osman, who spoke to CPJ.
The journalists were detained outside the SMS Somalia TV headquarters according to footage reviewed by CPJ. They were arrested shortly after returning from a press conference where parliamentarians had criticized the government’s evictions of civilians in a Mogadishu neighborhood, Osman told CPJ.
Osman told CPJ that the officers who arrested them were heavily armed.
In August 2025, CPJ sent queries via messaging app to police spokesperson Abdifatah Adan Hassan and Information Minister Daud Aweis but received no response.