UN to Somalia: Release Journalists February 12, 2007
The United Nations’ independent expert on human rights in Somalia , Ghanim Alnjjar,has called for the release of three Somali journalist detained shortly after Ethiopia’s lightning invasion of Somalia in late December 2007. The Ethiopians invaded that country to displace the Islamic Courts Union (BBC Backgrounder) and to aid in the installment of a transitional federal government.
The capital, Mogadishu, was warlord-dominated before the rise of the ICU, and Reuters reports that the four outlets shut down in Modadishu were HornAfrik Media, Shabelle Media network, a Koranic radio station (IQK), and the local office of Al-Jazeera.
The three journalists detained in Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, worked for a group called Haatuf Media Network.
The U.N. expert named them as Yusuf Abdi Gabode, Ali Abdi Din and Mohamed Omar Sheikh, but gave no indication of the charges against them.
The three were detained in Somaliland, a self-proclaimed independent entity with no international recognition.
The Bush administration regards Ethiopia as a major U.S ally in the Horn of Africa, and U.S. helicopter gunships aided the Ethiopians during the December invasion.
Relevant Links: Alnjjar’s U.N. Press Release
More Articles by Ganim Alnjarr
Tags: threats | Media | journalists | independent | freedom | Expert | called | somaliland | Somalia | Politics | Mohamed | Mogadishu | Alnajjar | Abdi
- Posted in : Uncategorized
- Author : M. Riggs
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