Kampala, July 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Somali authorities to immediately release journalist AliNur Salaad who was remanded in custody for 45 days on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces.”
“Somali authorities must immediately free journalist AliNur Salaad, drop all legal proceedings against him, and allow journalists to report and comment freely on public affairs,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Somalia must end its practice of harassing and arbitrarily detaining journalists.”
On July 22, police officers arrested AliNur, founder and CEO of the privately owned Dawan Media, and detained him at Waberi District police station in the capital Mogadishu, according to media reports and the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) rights group.
Those sources linked AliNur’s detention to a social media video, which has since been deleted, in which the journalist allegedly suggested that Somali security forces were vulnerable to attacks by the militant group Al-Shabaab because of their consumption of the narcotic khat.
The Banadir Regional Police said Hassan had been arrested on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces,” according to a statement published by the state-run Somali National Television.
On July 23, AliNur was charged without a lawyer present before the Banadir Regional Court, which has jurisdiction over Mogadishu, and remanded for 45 days in custody pending investigations, SJS said on X, formerly Twitter.
Attorney General Sulayman Mohamed Mohamoud and Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Omar Al Adala did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via messaging app.
On July 27, AliNur was released from prison on bail, according to media reports. He still faces charges for offending the honor or prestige of the head of state, committing obscene acts, distributing obscene publications and performances, insult, and criminal defamation, as well as restrictions on travel and speaking to the media, according to SJS. These charges carry maximum sentences of up to three years, according to the Somalia Penal Code.