Somalia woman arrested after saying she was raped by a colleague at gunpoint

Mohamed Bashir Hashi, the journalist who interviewed the 19-year-old woman in Mogadishu has also been arrested. The two men accused of raping her, however, have not.

The UN has now called for a full investigation into the case, despite Somalia’s UN backed government refusing to become involved in the judicial process, according to the BBC.  

The alleged victim is also a journalist and works for the Mogadishu state owned Kasmo Voice of Women radio station. She told Mr Hashi at the Shabelle Media Network, a privately owned station, that one colleague had threatened her with a pistol as the other forcefully took her into a bedroom.

“Both of them raped me several times, destroying my pride and dignity,“ the AFP news agency quotes Ms Hassan as saying.

“I am appealing to the government to take legal action against the rapists, they might have done the same to other poor girls."

The men refused to release her until the following morning, she said.

The interview was posted on the internet by Shabelle and was picked up by Somali news sites, before police arrested the alleged victim, Mr Hashi and the Shabelle station manager. The Shabelle station manager has since been granted bail by Somali authorities, but the two others remain in custody.

The Government denied trying to censor the media. A spokesperson asserted journalists play a "critical" role and should be able to "work without fear or favour".

The independent