Police occupy, close 2 television stations in Somaliland
Nairobi, July 1, 2020 — Authorities in Somaliland should immediately withdraw security personnel from the studios of the privately owned Universal TV and Star TV stations, and allow the stations to reopen and the journalists return to work without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 25, police officers ordered journalists to…
Somali freelancer Abdiwali Ali Hassan killed in Lower Shabelle region
New York, February 18, 2020–Somali broadcast journalist Abdiwali Ali Hassan was shot several times near his home in the town of Afgooye, about 30 km (19 miles) outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on February 16, and died on his way to the hospital, according to three local media organizations, his colleagues, and news reports.
Somaliland journalist detained without charge
Nairobi, February 21, 2018–Somaliland authorities should immediately release Mohamed Aabi Digaale, the Hargeisa bureau chief for the London-based broadcaster Universal TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Mohamed on February 17 and have been holding him without charge, Guleid Ahmed Jama, chairperson of the advocacy organization Human Rights Center, and Abdullahi Hersi…
Somali security agents raid Universal TV office, arrest journalists
Nairobi, October 5, 2015–Somali national security forces raided the offices of the privately owned broadcaster Universal TV in Mogadishu on October 2 and arrested Abdullahi Hersi, the station’s East Africa director, and Awil Dahir Salad, a producer, on the same day, according to local journalists and reports.
Somaliland authorities shut down independent papers
Nairobi, April 8, 2014–Police in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on Thursday raided the Hargeisa offices of the independent Somali-language paper Haatuf and its sister English-language weekly, Somaliland Times, and suspended them indefinitely, according to local journalists and news reports.
Somaliland authorities ban international broadcaster
Nairobi, February 5, 2014–Authorities from the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on Monday indefinitely banned the U.K.-based private broadcaster Universal TV in connection with its critical coverage of the president, local journalists told CPJ. The station has complied with the directive and is not broadcasting in Somaliland, according to news reports.
Journalists jailed for covering protest in Somaliland
Police arrested four journalists on December 3, 2013, and detained them for nearly a week for covering a peaceful protest in the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland, according to local journalists and human rights organizations.
Universal TV journalist dies of injuries in Somalia
Nairobi, October 28, 2013–Journalist Mohamed Mohamud, commonly known as “Tima’ade,” succumbed to gunshot wounds on Saturday and died at Medina Hospital in the capital, Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ. Unidentified gunmen shot Mohamed, a reporter for the popular, privately owned, U.K.-based Universal TV, on his way to work on October 22 in the Wadajir district…