Somalia Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is led handcuffed from a court in Yangon in September. He and colleague Wa Lone are serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal

December 13, 2018 12:00 AM EST

For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

A Somali boy, pictured in August 2018, watches as soldiers for the African Union Mission leave the Mogadishu stadium they used for years as a base. Gunmen in October shot dead a radio journalist in a town about 17km from the capital. (AFP/Mohamed Abdiwahab)

Radio journalist gunned down in Somalia

October 31, 2018 5:42 PM EDT

Nairobi, Kenya, October 31, 2018–Authorities in Somalia should urgently investigate the killing of radio journalist Abdullahi Mire Hashi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At least two unidentified gunmen shot Abdullahi in the town of Elasha Biyaha, about 17 km from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on October 27, according to media reports and two…

A tribute to victims of an April 2018 suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, that killed at least nine journalists. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Getting Away with Murder

October 29, 2018 11:00 AM EDT

CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Impunity is entrenched in 14 nations, according to CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

A fisherman carries his catch near a fishing port in Mogadishu on September 14. Authorities in the Somali state of Galmudug have detained a journalist on false news allegations. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Somali authorities detain journalist accused of spreading ‘false news’

September 26, 2018 1:46 PM EDT

Nairobi, September 26, 2018–Authorities in the Somali state of Galmudug should immediately release broadcast journalist Mohamed Abdiwali Tohow without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today. Intelligence personnel detained the journalist on September 22 over a report broadcast the previous day for the Mogadishu-based Radio Kulmiye, according to the station’s director, Burhan Dini Farah,…

A general view shows people walking along a street in Galkayo on April 21, 2015. A radio reporter and photographer was killed in Galkayo on September 19, 2018. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Journalist dies in Puntland of injuries sustained in knife attack

September 21, 2018 2:13 PM EDT

Nairobi, September 21, 2018–Police in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, should rigorously investigate the killing of Abdirisak Said Osman, a reporter and photographer with the privately owned radio station Codka Nabada, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Somali police at a ceremony in Mogadishu on December 20, 2017, to mark the 74th anniversary of the formation of the police force. Abdirizak Kasim Iman, a cameraperson for the privately owned SBS TV, was shot dead in Mogadishu on the afternoon of July 26, 2018, according to news reports. (AP/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somali cameraperson shot dead in Mogadishu

July 31, 2018 3:15 PM EDT

Nairobi, July 31, 2018–Authorities in Somalia should rigorously investigate the killing of Abdirizak Kasim Iman, a cameraperson for the privately owned SBS TV, who was shot dead in Mogadishu on the afternoon of July 26, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

President Muse Bihi Abdi addresses a press conference in Hargeisa, Somaliland, in November 2017. Muse Bihi's government suspended critical daily newspaper Waaberi, claiming problems with its ownership registration. (AFP)

Somaliland bans operations of privately owned newspaper

June 21, 2018 5:58 PM EDT

New York, June 21, 2018–Authorities in the breakaway state of Somaliland should immediately lift a ban on the operations of Waaberi newspaper, a privately owned daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A Hargeisa regional court issued an order suspending the newspaper on June 19 on allegations of improper registration, according to a statement…

People wait in a line to cast their votes in the presidential election at a polling station in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on November 13, 2017. Somaliland authorities in late May 2018 detained two journalists and banned two TV stations. (AFP)

Somaliland arrests journalists, bans TV stations

June 1, 2018 12:04 PM EDT

Nairobi, June 1, 2018–Authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland should desist from detaining and harassing journalists covering a conflict with Puntland and lift an operations ban on two television stations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

A soldier stands outside Garowe prison as prisoners stand behind the locked gate in Garowe, Puntland, in northeastern Somalia, on December 14, 2016. Puntland authorities detained a journalist without charge on May 4, 2018. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Puntland authorities detain journalist without charge

May 18, 2018 12:31 PM EDT

Nairobi, May 18, 2018–Authorities in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, should immediately release journalist Ibrahim Obo Daud, also known as Suldan Godogodo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ibrahim was arrested on May 4 in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland, according to Media Association of Puntland (MAP) chairman Mohamed Dahir and Bashir…

CPJ calls on Somaliland’s president to prioritize press freedom

February 26, 2018 9:38 AM EST

The Committee to Protect Journalists writes to the President of the Republic of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi urging him to free imprisoned journalists and ensure news outlets can operate freely.