Somaliland Authorities detained two online journalists. The journalists are working for privately owned news websites, on 2nd of April, 2011 at the town of Boorama, NUSOJ reported.
The two journalists, Jabir Ali Omar who works for www.boramanews.com and Dahir Ahmed Jirde who works for www.saylac.com respectively were detained at Boorama police station after they have been accused for allegedly posting leaflets written on the secession of Awdal region from the rest of the Somaliland with the formation of “Awdal State.” The Awdal region is still controlled by Somaliland government.
The fliers were reportedly distributed on Friday night to the major gathering areas, like cafeterias, schools, universities of Boorama town, but the police commissioner of Awdal Region, Mohamed Abdi Ahmed said that the police are questioning the two journalists over the fliers.
It is not yet clear who distributed the leaflets in the town of Boorama in the overnight.
However, a statement published on Somali website, said that the two journalists were detained for posting the secessionist fliers on the websites they worked for and taking photographs of the fliers in the town of Boorama.
“We call upon the Somaliland government to respect the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press and release the journalists immediately,” says Mohamed Ibrahim, NUSOJ Interim Secretary General.
“It is impossible to hold journalists incommunicado without giving them fair trail,” Mr. Ibrahim adds.
National Union of Somali Journalists NUSOJ KM4 Area Hodan District Mogadishu, Somalia Telephone: +252-1-859944 e-mail: nusojsomali@gmail.com
