On June 13, 2025, police officers arrested Saed Muse Farah, also known as Qurbawi, in Somaliland’s eastern town of Erigavo and detained him in the central police station over a video report about tuberculosis, according to the Somaliland Journalists Association and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ after his release.
On April 21, 2025, Sabar TV, which Saed owns and manages, published a report on the partial closure of wards at Erigavo’s only tuberculosis treatment center due to a lack of funding. Staff interviewed said they had not been paid for months and some patients with active TB had been discharged into the community.
On June 14, 2025, Saed appeared before the Erigavo District Court, where he was charged with publishing false news under Article 328 of the Penal Code. He was not provided with legal representation and had to defend himself. The court found him guilty and fined him $100. Saed told CPJ that he paid the fine and was released the same day.
Saed said that authorities also arrested and fined hospital staff who had spoken to Sabar TV, though he did not disclose the amounts.
Saed said the incident had made him more cautious in his reporting.
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 Saed. Similar emails to the ministry of information and the presidency returned error messages, and calls to those offices were unanswered in early May 2026.