On December 26, 2025, police in the central town of Abudwaq arrested journalist Ahmed Abdullahi Mire, following his video report the previous day on a shooting at a football stadium in which spectators were injured, his employer Caabudwaaq TV reported and Ahmed told CPJ after his release.
Abudwaq is in Galmudug, one of Somalia’s six federal member states.
Ahmed was walking to work when several armed police officers in a pickup truck detained him and took him to Abudwaq Central Police Station, where an officer questioned him about the report. Ahmed told CPJ that he insisted he was simply doing his job and the footage in his report was genuine. Ahmed said one officer warned him not to report negatively on security matters in the town.
The journalist was released without charge after spending nearly two hours in detention.
CPJ did not receive responses to September 2026 emails requesting comment from the president’s office, police chief, and the ministry of interior.