On July 1, 2026, Mascuud Warsame, founder of the online media outlet Xogbile TV, was detained in the office of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and then transferred to a second NISA detention facility, where he was held for 38 days, without charge.
Mascuud told CPJ that he had been driven from his home to NISA’s office by two plainclothes security officers after being asked by the head of NISA in Southwest State, Salah Abdi Nur, also known as Malin Salah, to help the regional administration regain control of its presidential Facebook page.
The incident began when Mascuud received a call just before midnight on June 30 from a journalist he knew who asked Mascuud — whose previous work involved restoring hacked accounts — for help. The journalist then added the intelligence chief to the call, Mascuud said.
“Salah also asked me to help recover the page but insisted that I meet him at a NISA office in Mogadishu’s Hodan District. At that moment, I was in my office in Waberi District, only a few kilometers away,” Mascuud told CPJ.
Mascuud said the journalist, who worked for state media, alleged the page had been hacked by suspected allies of former regional President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagaren.
In June 2026, President Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur, also known as Adan Madobe and a former speaker of the federal parliament’s lower house, was elected to lead Southwest State, one of Somalia’s six federal member states. He replaced Abdiaziz, who had been removed from power in March 2026 after falling out with federal President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Salah was initially friendly, Mascuud said, but he then accused him of hacking the Southwest presidential Facebook page, which he denied.
“I handed over my phone and provided the passwords, as I was confident that I had done nothing wrong. Salah then told me that I would be detained while my phone was investigated,” Mascuud told CPJ, adding that he spent the rest of the night at the office, guarded by two armed men.
The following afternoon, a man carrying Mascuud’s phone who identified himself as an investigator questioned him about two reports, which he said were the reason for his detention. One was a June 2 video of a Somali federal lawmaker cursing Southwest State legislators who refused to support Adan’s presidential candidacy. The other was a May 1 video about what Xogbile described as Adan’s political failures. Mascuud said he again denied wrongdoing.
On that evening of July 1, Mascuud was transferred to another NISA detention facility near Mogadishu Central Prison. He said another officer questioned him about his alleged Facebook hack and accused him of opposing the new administration through negative reporting. Similar questions were repeated on July 5.
On August 2, Mascuud was brought before the center’s commander, along with his phone. Mascuud said the commander asked for the passwords for his phone, mobile money app, and social media accounts, and told him that the device would be examined.
On August 4, the commander told Mascuud he would soon be released and, on August 8, Mascuud walked free, after 38 days in detention and without charge.
After his release, Mascuud learnt from his family that control of the Southwest presidential Facebook page had changed hands several times while he was detained, which he said proved he was not involved as he could not have hacked the account from his cell.
CPJ did not receive responses to its September 2026 requests for comment sent via messaging app to NISA’s Salah, Abdiaziz’s spokesperson Ugas Hassan Abdi, or via email to the Southwest State presidency and NISA in Mogadishu.