On December 11, 2025, Somali police in the Yaaqshiid district of the capital, Mogadishu, arrested journalist Ali Yasin Ali and nine other journalists covering an accident where a lorry had fallen into a sewage pit, the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) reported and six of the journalists told CPJ after their release.
The journalists were:
· Universal Somali TV reporter Abshir Abdullahi Amin;
· Somali Cable TV reporter Qasim Abdille Barrow and camera operator Mohamed Adan Hassan;
· Himilo Media reporter Khadar Abdirahim Ibrahim and camera operator Abdirisak Haji Sidow;
· SMS Somali TV reporter Hussein Isse Mohamed and camera operator Ali Yasin Ali;
· Risaala Media camera operator Salman Abdirisak Shire;
· RTN Somali TV camera operator Abdukadir Mohamed Hassan;
· Saab TV reporter Deeq Malin Jinow.
The journalists were taken to Yaaqshiid police station where they were held for about three hours and then released on the orders of the district commissioner, six of the journalists told CPJ. They were subsequently able to report on the incident for their respective media outlets.
Qasim and Salman declined to speak to CPJ and Abdirisak and Abdukadir did not respond to CPJ’s calls or messages. CPJ did not receive responses to July 22, 2026, requests for comment sent via messaging app to Information Minister Abdifitah Qasim Mohamud and police spokesperson Abdifatah Adan Hassan.