Nairobi, April 7, 2015--Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency raided the Shabelle Media Network offices on April 3, arrested staff and shuttered the privately owned stations Radio Shabelle and Sky FM, according to local journalists. The raid came after the network aired a clip of the militant group Al-Shabab claiming responsibility for the attack on a university in Kenya, a Security Ministry spokesman said.
Nairobi, March 3, 2015--A Somali court in Mogadishu on Sunday convicted one journalist of public incitement and two others of publishing false news and imposed harsh fines on them, according to news reports. The journalists are out of prison, but a fourth is still being detained, the reports said.
Nairobi, January 5, 2015--Somali security forces arrested five journalists in two separate cases over the weekend in the capital, Mogadishu, according to news reports. Three of them are still being held.
Nairobi, August 21, 2014 -- The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the detention of three Shabelle Media Network journalists and the closure of their station. Security agents arrested 19 individuals at the network's offices in the capital Mogadishu on August 15, and removed the transmitters of Radio Shabelle and Sky FM, two stations in the Shabelle Media Network, according to news reports and local journalists.
All but three of those arrested were released from the Somali National Security Services in Mogadishu on August 17, news reports said. Mohamed Musa, general manager of the independent Shabelle Media Network, told CPJ that he and Mohamed Bashir, a producer, are currently in hiding, fearing potential arrest. He added that members of the public, who had been visiting the station at the time of the raid, were among those arrested.
Nairobi, March 31, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Somali authorities in the capital, Mogadishu, to release a radio journalist who has been held without charge since Sunday. Nuradin Hassan is an editor of Sky FM, as well as a news presenter, according to news reports and Sky FM.
Nairobi, November 21, 2013--Somali authorities arrested two journalists, one of them the victim of an alleged rape, on Wednesday in Mogadishu, the capital, and charged them with defamation in connection with a report on the alleged rape, according to news reports and local journalists.
The young staff members of Radio Shabelle, whose offices were in the relatively safe section of Mogadishu next to the airport, are no longer feeling safe. On Saturday, while presenters were on the air, heavily armed security forces raided the Shabelle offices and arrested the three-dozen staff members at gunpoint, according to a statement by the Shabelle Media Network. The security forces dismantled and took all of the equipment for Radio Shabelle and Sky-FM, a sister station in the same building, as well as Shabelle TV.
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Nairobi, March 12, 2013--Somali police attacked and obstructed more than a half-dozen journalists who were seeking to cover a rape trial in Mogadishu on Saturday, as authorities continue to struggle in meeting law enforcement and free expression demands in sexual assault cases. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks and calls on authorities to hold the officers accountable.
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Do you believe the free flow of information must be protected? Sign the #RightToReport petition and demand that President Obama immediately:
1. Issue a presidential policy directive prohibiting the hacking and surveillance of journalists and media organizations.
2. Limit aggressive prosecutions that ensnare journalists and intimidate whistleblowers.
3. Prevent the harassment of journalists at the U.S. border.
Or click here to see the full petition, and join leading journalists like Christiane Amanpour, The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the AP Kathleen Carroll, and Arianna Huffington in signing on.
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