On January 16, 2025, armed police arrested Shafici Abdi Mohamed, also known as Shafici Shaaciye, during an early morning raid on his home in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, the journalist told CPJ. The officers did not have a warrant or explain why they were taking him into custody and they assaulted him and several female relatives, the journalist added.
Shafici mainly reports via his Facebook page, which has over 144,000 followers, on politics and security in Somalia and Somaliland. Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.
Shafici said he was held for two days at Hargeisa Central Police Station, where officers beat and interrogated him repeatedly about his sources. Shafici’s family and colleagues were unaware of his whereabouts, he said.
On January 18, Shafici appeared before Hargeisa’s Maroodi Jeh Regional Court and was told that the case related to his journalism but no charges were presented. The court remanded him in custody for seven days and he was transferred to Hargeisa Central Prison, he said.
Shafici was arrested soon after his January 12 return to Hargeisa from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where he had fled in February 2024 after receiving threats, including anonymous calls and text messages, from individuals who said they were connected to Somaliland intelligence services.
On January 22, Shafici was released after clan elders intervened.
In a January 27 interview, Shafici told CPJ that he did not feel safe living or working in Somaliland.
CPJ did not receive responses to its September 2025 queries via messaging app to information minister Ahmed Yasin Sheikh Ali Ayaanle and emails to the information ministry and police.