On March 16, 2025, journalist Mohamed Saleban Ahmed, also known as Suute, was detained in Somaliland’s eastern town of El-Afweyn, according to the Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA) and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ after his release.
It was his second detention that month over the same Facebook report, in which a prominent clan elder criticized government plans to integrate clan militias into the army. The clan elder opposed integration and urged the militias to continue defending their people.
Mohamed said that the police told him that the Sanaag regional administration had ordered his arrest over the report.
He was held in custody for five days without charge before being released on March 20, 2025, following intervention by clan elders.
Mohamed was also detained from March 8 to 10 in the nearby town of Erigavo in connection with the same report.
In early 2026, Mohamed told CPJ he had stopped reporting on sensitive issues following the arrests, for fear of further reprisals.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally, except by Israel in December 2025.
CPJ did not receive responses to April 2026 emails to the police and Office of the Attorney General, requesting comment on several cases of journalists detained since January 2025, including Mohamed. Similar emails to the ministry of information and the presidency returned error messages, and calls to those offices were unanswered in early May 2026.