Two radio journalists released in Somaliland after 28 days

Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that journalists Ahmed Saleyman Dhuhul and Sayid Osman Mire were released yesterday on paying fines imposed by a court in Hargeisa, in the northwestern breakaway territory of Somaliland, after being held for 28 days. Dhuhul and Mire, who work for Horyaal Radio and are members of the Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA), were arrested on 13 July. On 8 August, the Hargeisa court sentenced them to six months in prison and a fine of 300,000 Somaliland shillings (about 30 euros). As jail terms of less than a year are convertible into fines in Somaliland, they obtained their release yesterday by paying 2.5 million Somaliland shillings (260 euros) in fines. Reporters Without Borders deplores the sentence imposed by the court. ------------------------------------- 17.07.09 - Two journalists arrested amid growing crackdown on media Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the arrest of two journalists and the closure of a TV station in the northwestern breakaway territory of Somaliland and the beatings which several journalists received from police in the northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland. “While the international community’s attention is focused on the abduction of two French government advisers who were posing a journalists in Mogadishu, the real journalists continue to be arrested and attacked with complete impunity,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The international community should help Somali journalists, who are exposed to enormous risks.” Ahmed Saleyman Dhuhul and Sayid Osman Mire, both members of the Somaliland Journalists Associations (SOLJA), were arrested without a warrant on 13 July when police raided Horyaal Radio, a privately-owned station based in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa. Accused by Somaliland President Dahir Riyate of stirring up a tribal dispute that led to the death of four people, they are still being held at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department in Hargeisa. A local television station, Horn Cable TV (HCTV), has been closed on the orders of the Somaliland attorney general for broadcasting a report about the same dispute. In Puntland, several journalists, including Aweys Sheikh Nur of Horseed Media Radio, were attacked and beaten by police while attending the trial of a number of Somali pirates in the port city of Bosaso. The journalists were attacked after some of them took photos of the prosecutor although they complied with a request to delete the photos. The judge and other court officials did not intervene while the police beat them. When the journalists complained, one police officer said: “We do not like what you report; you journalists are against the government.” Africa’s deadliest country for the news media, Somalia was ranked 153rd out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Kidnappings of journalists and humanitarian aid workers are now common in Somalia and six journalists have been killed since the start of the year.