On May 23, 2026, journalist Abdikarin Isse Abdillahi was arrested by police in central Somaliland’s Sheekh town, over his Facebook video, in which residents of a nearby village complained about the lack of basic services, according to the Somaliland Journalists Association and Abdikarin, who spoke to CPJ after his release.
Abdikarin, a journalist with privately owned Bulsho TV who also runs the Facebook-based news outlet and media production company Sheikh Media HD, told CPJ that several police officers arrived at his home in a vehicle and detained him. The officers said his reporting from Huddisa village had angered the local administration and the administration regarded it as a form of incitement and the dissemination of false news.
Abdikarin was held at Sheekh police station and then taken to a district court, which remanded him for 14 days pending investigation. Abdikarin was transferred to Berbera Central Prison in the coastal city, about 150 kilometers north.
During his detention, local journalists and family members made efforts to secure his release.
On May 31, 2026, Abdikarin was released without charge.
CPJ did not receive a response to emails sent to Somaliland’s ministry of information and the office of the president, or a query via messaging app to a number on the police’s Facebook page.