Media News - Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Somaliland: Crackdown on independent media
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for an end to the ongoing government crackdown on independent journalists in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland. On Sunday, the Sahil regional court in the costal city of Berbera sentenced the editor-in-chief of the online publication Berberanews, Mohamed Said, in absentia, to three years in jail on defamation charges. Said has been in hiding since mid-August. Judge Osman Ibrahim read a letter that claimed Berberanews published articles that 'spread scandals' against local officials, the National Union of Somali Journalists reported. The verdict banned the website from operating in Somaliland for an indefinite period. The regional court ruling also banned Yasin Jama, a contributor to Berberanews, from practicing journalism until further notice from the court. Local police arrested Jama and detained him for 10 days with no official charges. Police accused Jama of defamation after he posted two opinion pieces, not written by him, that accused local officials of misusing public funds to support a local political party. Police in the northwestern town of Burao have been holding private Radio Horyaal journalist Fowsi Suleiman since 3 August for a story that accused local Governor Jama Abdillahi of embezzlement. Fowsi has been detained without charge or brought to court for 21 days despite the 48-hour limit for detentions without charge permitted under Somaliland law. On 17 August, four relatives of the chairman of the ruling party beat Ali Adan, a reporter for Horn Cable TV and Radio Horyaal, with sticks in Erigabo, a city in northeastern Somalia. According to Horn Cable TV Director Abdu Hakim, the chairman of the ruling party in Erigayo had threatened him three days earlier for covering recent political rallies. Adan told CPJ he has been released from the hospital but was still reco vering from injuries. (Afrique en ligne)
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