Somalia: Journalists Accused Of Incitement To Go On Trial

By Staff Writer

Somalia's journalist union on Monday August 18 called on the government to ensure a free and fair trial of three journalists apprehended last week when security forces raided a major radio station on the basis incitement broadcasts.

Radio Shabelle and Sky FM, a sister station were closed on Friday August 15, after they were accused of criticizing a military disarmament operation of a militia leader in the capital Mogadishu that escalated into heavy gun fight.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said journalists had been accused of "incitement", but 16 workers, including journalists, technicians and guards, were released on Sunday August 17, as the station remains off the air.

However, the three journalists, Abdimalik Yusuf Mohamud, Sky FM director Mohamud Mohamed Dahir, and Shabelle deputy news editor Ahmed Abdi Hassan remained in police custody, said NUSOJ.

"The charges against them have not been publicly released", the union said in a statement, urging the government to "provide a free and fair trial".

Radio Shabelle has been briefly shut by the government at least three times in the past few years.

It has also been threatened by Al-Qaeda linked Somali militia group Al-Shabaab fighters over its reporting, and several of its journalists and two of its directors have been killed.

Journalists practicing the profession and bloggers in the East African region have been a target of governments and insurgent groups, leading to incarcerations, forcing some to go into exile in more liberal countries such as the neighboring Kenya which is viewed by many as a more media friendly state in Africa and worse, being killed.

East African nations of Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Rwanda have the highest numbers of journalists and bloggers fleeing over the past years, making the region responsible for the highest number of exiled journalists for the sixth consecutive year with majority of them ending up in Kenya.

Eritrea and Ethiopia are considered to be the worst perpetrators in incarcerating journalists.

Some journalists exiled in Kenya come as far as west and North African countries such as Equatorial Guinea and Libya. 

Somalia has been under the spotlight for being one of the countries where impunity rates for the perpetrators of crimes against journalists is high, with 12 Somali journalists having been killed in 2007 alone and over 70 journalists have fled the country since.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”