Somaliland releases TV journalists after nearly 3 months behind bars

Somaliland has witnessed an intensifying crackdown on Press Freedom for the past five years with local journalists reporting they faced unprecedented threats and censorship on their media outlets.

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Somaliland releases TV journalists after nearly 3 months behind bars

FILE: Mohammed Ilig, owner of MMTV [R] and Abdijabbar Mohammed of Horn Cable [R] speaking to the media after their release

HARGEISA, Somalia – Two Somali journalists have been released from jail in Somaliland, a self-declared republic in the north of the Horn of Africa on Saturday following nearly three months behind bars.

The Journalists - Mohamed Abdi Sheikh Ilig and Abdijabar Mohamed Hussein, were detained held at Hargeisa Central Prison since April 13 of this year without a court and charges brought against them.

Mohammed Ilig and Abdijabbar Mohammed have been released from Hargeisa prison for reporting on the prison scuffle in April 2022. HRC is happy to hear that they have been given back their freedom and that an injustice has been righted. #JournalismIsNotACrime," said Human Rights Centre Somaliland.

Their release came after a pardon by Somaliland president Muse Bihi Abdi, who is facing local and international pressure over holding the presidential election on its scheduled time which is Nov 2020.

The two journalists who work for MMTV and Horn Cable have been arrested along with 13 other local reporters on April 13 by the police as they were conducting live coverage of a jail riot in Hargeisa city.

The other journalists were released a few days after their arrest but Ilig and Hussein were kept in the prison and sentenced to one year and four months of imprisonment by Marodi-Jeh regional court.

Somaliland has witnessed an intensifying crackdown on Press Freedom for the past five years with local journalists reporting they faced unprecedented threats and censorship on their media outlets.

KEYDMEDIA English 

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