“Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul endured nearly two months of detention and faced punitive legal proceedings simply because he dared to report allegations of corruption,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative. “While it is a relief that the case against Mohamed is over, Somali authorities owe it to him to investigate the circumstances under which he was detained arbitrarily and ensure that no journalists suffer similar ordeals in the future.”

Somali police detained Mohamed, an editor with the privately owned Kaab TV and the information and human rights secretary for the local press rights group Somali Journalists Syndicate, on August 17, a day after he published a report on allegations of corruption within the police force.

He was denied access to his lawyer and family and was charged in September with anti-national propaganda, bringing the Somali nation into contempt, causing false alarm, and publishing false news, according to the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ and a Somali Journalists Syndicate statement.

On September 25, a court in Mogadishu ruled that since Mohamed was a journalist, he could not be charged under the penal code and directed the prosecution to present new charges in conformity with the country’s media law, according to statements by the syndicate and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity citing fear of professional retaliation. 

When the prosecution failed to present new charges against Mohamed during an October 11 hearing, the court discontinued the case.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul endured nearly two months of detention and faced punitive legal proceedings simply because he dared to report allegations of corruption,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative. “While it is a relief that the case against Mohamed is over, Somali authorities owe it to him to investigate the circumstances under which he was detained arbitrarily and ensure that no journalists suffer similar ordeals in the future.”

Somali police detained Mohamed, an editor with the privately owned Kaab TV and the information and human rights secretary for the local press rights group Somali Journalists Syndicate, on August 17, a day after he published a report on allegations of corruption within the police force.

He was denied access to his lawyer and family and was charged in September with anti-national propaganda, bringing the Somali nation into contempt, causing false alarm, and publishing false news, according to the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ and a Somali Journalists Syndicate statement.

On September 25, a court in Mogadishu ruled that since Mohamed was a journalist, he could not be charged under the penal code and directed the prosecution to present new charges in conformity with the country’s media law, according to statements by the syndicate and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity citing fear of professional retaliation. 

When the prosecution failed to present new charges against Mohamed during an October 11 hearing, the court discontinued the case.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On the evening of August 12, Radio Baraawe director Osman Aweys Bahar heard gunshots outside the broadcaster’s offices in Barawe, the capital of Somalia’s South-West State. Osman and two other witnesses, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, said they climbed onto the building’s roof and saw about four men firing guns on the street below. Osman and one of the witnesses said the men were firing at the Radio Baraawe building and when they shouted down to ask why, one gunman discharged his weapon towards the rooftop, forcing them to run inside. 

Osman said no one was injured, but he shared images with CPJ of bullet holes in the building, which he said were a result of the shooting.

Radio Baraawe, which broadcasts in the minority Barawani language, has remained off air since the incident. Osman told CPJ that his colleagues were afraid to go back to work and he had gone into hiding as security sector contacts warned him that he might be arrested.  The station is still publishing content on its Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Since leaving the city, Osman told CPJ that he had received several threatening calls from unknown people who warned him that they knew where he was hiding. He also shared with CPJ a screenshot of a threat sent on August 25 via Facebook direct message.

“No journalists should have to work with fear that they could be shot at their desks. This incident has effectively silenced a station that was a crucial source of news and information for a minority community,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities in South-West State should independently investigate this incident, credibly establish the facts, and ensure accountability for those who carried out the shooting. They should provide safety guarantees so that Radio Baraawe’s staff can resume work.”

Osman said that he recognized some of the men as working for Liban Abukar Osman, the then-Barawe district commissioner,  whose office was opposite the Radio Baraawe building. Liban has since been dismissed from his post in an unrelated move.

Osman said he believed the attack was connected to Radio Baraawe’s August 8 broadcast about the death of a Barawe resident, whose family said he had been killed over a land dispute. The report was later posted on the outlet’s Facebook page. In a February interview with Radio Baraawe, the victim said that Liban had ignored his requests for help.

Liban told CPJ via messaging app that his security officers fired at a car that had crossed a checkpoint without authorization. He dismissed reports that the men were targeting Radio Baraawe as “propaganda” and said that his men only shot at the Radio Baraawe building in response to fire coming at them from the rooftop.

For their part, Osman and the two witnesses told CPJ that no one fired shots from Radio Baraawe’s roof that evening. However, Osman and one witness said they heard gunfire from a nearby police station behind the Radio Baraawe building around the same time.

Radio Baraawe has faced previous difficulties and Osman said he believed the station was targeted in part because it broadcasts in a minority language.

In April 2020, a local official said that he had banned Radio Baraawe from broadcasting in Barawani because it was a dialect and not a national language, according to a statement published by the Federation of Somali Journalists at the time. The ban was revoked a few days later, according to an SJS statement.

In January 2021, armed police raided the station, forced it off-air for two weeks and detained Osman for 10 days, according to the journalist and an SJS statement.

In June 2022, unidentified security personnel and some uniformed police officers raided Radio Baraawe, assaulted Osman, injuring one of his hands, and arrested him and another journalist, according to SOMA and SJS, as well as Osman, in an account published on Radio Baraawe’s Facebook account at the time.

CPJ’s requests for comment to the South-West State presidency via email and Facebook and to South-West State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed via X, formerly Twitter, did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On August 17, four plain-clothed security personnel arrested Mohamed, a reporter with the privately owned broadcaster Kaab TV, at Mogadishu University, where he studies part-time, according to a statement by the Somali Journalists Syndicate, a local press freedom group, where Mohamed also works as the secretary of information and human rights.

The men, who did not identify themselves or have an arrest warrant, punched Mohamed in the chest, hit him on the shoulder with the butt of a pistol, and forced him into an unmarked vehicle, according to Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, secretary general of the SJS, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

On Wednesday, SJS said on X, formerly Twitter, that Mohamed was being held at the Hamar Jajab police station in the capital, Mogadishu, and had not been granted access to a lawyer or his family.

Separately, on August 15, police in Dhusamareeb, the capital of central Galmudug state, arrested Goobjoog TV reporter Abdifatah Yusuf Beereed while he was interviewing regional police officers about their salaries, according to the Federation of Somali Journalists, a local press rights group, and Abdifatah, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Abdifatah said he was detained overnight before being released without charge, with a warning to avoid such reporting in future. Abdifatah told CPJ that the police returned his camera on August 17, but forced him to delete his video interviews.

“Somali authorities must allow journalists to report on the activities of the police; such journalism is matter of public interest that should be encouraged, not censored,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should unconditionally release journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul and ensure that journalists can report on the security sector without fear of retaliation.”

During his detention, officers with the police Criminal Investigation Department questioned Mohamed about the sources for his August 16 report on Kaab TV, which alleged the embezzlement of European Union funds for training Somali police officers, Abdalle told CPJ.

On August 19, a court approved a police request to hold Mohamed for seven days without charge, pending investigation, according to Abdalle and Kaab TV. Abdalle said the police described Mohamed’s reporting as defamatory and accused him of spreading false information about corruption within the force.

CPJ’s emailed requests for comment to the Galmudug Ministry of Internal Security and the office of the Galmudug regional president, sent text messages to CID head Abdifatah Ali Hersi, sent and a direct message on X to the Somali Police Force, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Saturday, April 29, police detained Yılmaz, an editor for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, and Müftüoğlu, co-chair of the local media advocacy group Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır in connection with an investigation by prosecutors in Ankara, the capital, according to multiple news reports.

Ankara prosecutors alleged that Yılmaz and Müftüoğlu have ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group and political party that Turkey classifies as a terrorist group.

Separately, on April 29, police detained six female journalists in Istanbul’s Kadıköy neighborhood for publicly reading a statement protesting the arrests and prosecution of journalists in Ankara and Diyarbakır, according to reports and tweets by advocacy organizations.

On May 1, Istanbul police attacked and briefly detained at least two journalists as they covered Labor Day marches and protests, according to news reports.

Turkish authorities have arrested and charged several members of the Kurdish media over recent months with similar allegations of PKK connections, ahead of the country’s May 14 presidential election.

“The detainment of journalists Sedat Yılmaz and Dicle Müftüoğlu, on top of the arrests in Diyarbakır and the allegations of violence toward these journalists and others who showed solidarity with them in Istanbul, are signs of distress from a government that’s worried about the upcoming elections,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “The authorities must immediately release the journalists in custody and seriously investigate claims of police brutality.”

After the detainment in Diyarbakır, police drove Yılmaz and Müftüoğlu to Ankara. While they were being transported, the journalists alleged that their hands were tied behind their backs for 15 hours, they were deprived of food for 24 hours, insulted by the police officers, and Yılmaz was kicked in the head by one of the officers, resulting in hearing loss, according to multiple news reports. The pair are still detained, and Yılmaz’s lawyer has filed a criminal complaint concerning his client’s injuries and treatment.

The six female journalists were released on April 29 without charge, and later filed legal complaints against the police. They are: 

1. Eylem Nazlıer, a reporter for the leftist daily Evrensel. She reported that police officers slapped her face multiple times and punched her head once as her hands were cuffed behind her back. 
2. Pınar Gayıp, a reporter for the leftist Etkin News Agency (ETHA)
3. Serpil Ünal, a reporter for the leftist news website Mücadele Birliği 
4. Esra Soybir, a reporter for the leftist news website Direnişteyiz
5. Yadigar Aygün, a reporter for the leftist news website Gazete Karınca  
6. Zeynep Kuray, a freelance reporter who covers social events and protests

Gayıp and the other journalists also reported wounds to their wrists from the plastic cuffs that were tightened too tightly, according to those reports. The journalists were taken to a hospital for medical treatment before the police station, as is legally required.

On April 25, authorities in Diyarbakır detained at least nine journalists and a media lawyer for alleged ties to PKK. As of April 29, five have been released: 

• Media lawyer Resul Temur
• Osman Akın, news editor for the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Yeni Yaşam
• Kadir Bayram, a camera operator for PIYA production company
• Salih Keleş and Mehmet Yalçın, two journalists whose outlets CPJ could not immediately confirm. 

CPJ’s emails to the chief prosecutors’ offices of Ankara and Istanbul didn’t receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

In the early hours of Tuesday, April 25, authorities in 21 cities throughout the southeastern province of Diyarbakır detained more than 100 people accused of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization, according to multiple media reports.

At least 10 Kurdish journalists were included in the crackdown, which also targeted politicians, lawyers, artists, and others.

Authorities also detained Resul Temur, a Diyarbakır-based media freedom lawyer who represents more than half of the 40 journalists behind bars in Turkey who were included in CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census, according to news reports and the Media and Law Studies Association, a local rights group.

“Turkish authorities are yet again showing that they will use the country’s terrorism laws as a cudgel against the press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the journalists recently swept up in a crackdown in Diyarbakır along with lawyer Resul Temur, and drop all efforts to suppress coverage of Kurdish issues.”

Authorities arrested at least three journalists with the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, according to that outlet and other news reports, which identified them as editor Abdurrahman Gök and reporters Ahmet Kanbal and Mehmet Şah Oruç. Authorities are seeking to detain Mezopotamya publisher Ferhat Çelik after he was not found at his home, the news agency said.

Those reports also said that authorities had detained Osman Akın, news editor for the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Yeni Yaşam; Beritan Canözer, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish all-women news website JINNEWS; Kadri Esen, publisher of the Kurdish-language newspaper Xwebûn; and four journalists whose outlets CPJ could not immediately confirm: Arif Akkaya, Remzi Akkaya, Mikail Barut, and Salih Keleş.

As CPJ has documented, authorities have recently detained Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır and Ankara, and charged them months later with PKK membership on flimsy evidence.

CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s office of Diyarbakır for comment but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Tuesday, January 3, agents with the National Security Service detained six journalists with the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, according to multiple media reports and three people familiar with the arrests who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.

The journalists are under investigation for allegedly leaking a video clip widely circulated on social media in December, which appeared to show the country’s president urinating on himself, those reports said. SSBC did not air that footage, an official from the broadcaster told the independent outlet Radio Tamazuj.

“Authorities’ arrests of six employees of the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation matches a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should unconditionally release these six SSBC employees and ensure that they can work without further intimidation or threat of arrest.”

Those detained are control room director Joval Tombe, camera operator and technician Victor Lado, camera operators Joseph Oliver and Jacob Benjamin, camera operator and technician Mustafa Osman, and control room technician Cherbek Ruben, according to the media reports and the people who spoke to CPJ.

As of Friday evening, the six remained in detention at the National Security Service headquarters, known as Blue House, according to those sources and a statement by the Union of Journalists of South Sudan.

CPJ called and texted South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei for comment on Friday evening, but did not immediately receive any replies. He told the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America that people should wait to learn why the journalists were detained.

When CPJ called Elijah Alier, managing director of South Sudan’s Media Authority, a statutory regulator, he declined to comment, saying he was out of office.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

“The draconian 14-year prison sentences for Crimean Tatar journalists Osman Arifmemetov and Rustem Sheikhaliev demonstrate just how intent Russian authorities are on eliminating any dissenting voices on Crimea,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “This sentencing should raise alarm bells for anyone who cares about freedom of the press in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea. Russian authorities must immediately release Arifmemetov, Sheikhaliev, and all other imprisoned members of the press.” 

Arifmemetov was arrested along with Crimean Tatar journalist Remzi Bekirov in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on March 27, 2019; Sheikhaliev was arrested the same day in Simferopol, Crimea’s capital, and the three are now held in Russia. They had livestreamed raids and trials and posted the videos on the YouTube channel of human rights group Crimean Solidarity. Bekirov was sentenced to 19 years in prison in March 2022. 

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don convicted Arifmemetov and Sheikhaliev of participating in banned Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia deems a terrorist organization, and for preparing to violently seize power, the reports said. They will serve the first four years in prison and the rest of their sentences in a strict security colony; they will face additional restrictions on their liberty for one year after their release, a representative for the court said in an emailed response to CPJ’s query. The representative, who did not provide a name, did not give details on those restrictions. 

According to Crimean Solidarity, after their release the journalists will be prevented from leaving their homes overnight, from leaving their municipalities or changing their residences, and from participating in mass events; the journalists will also be required to report to authorities twice a month. 

Arifmemetov and Sheikhaliev pleaded not guilty, according to Crimean Solidarity. A representative for the group, Luftiye Zudiyeva, told CPJ via messaging app that the journalists plan to appeal the verdict. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Thursday, August 11, police arrested Horyaal 24 TV broadcast reporter Ahmed-Zaki and cameraman Abdinasir while they covered opposition protests in the region’s capital, Hargeisa, according to separate statements by the Human Rights Center (HRC), a local non-governmental organization, and the Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA), a press rights group, as well as Horyaal 24 TV owner Mohamed Osman Mireh, who goes by Sayid and spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

“The frequency with which Somaliland officials throw journalists behind bars is alarming. This trend of criminalizing the work of the media should end,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative. “Authorities should unconditionally release Horyaal 24 TV journalists Ahmed-Zaki Ibrahim Mohamood and Abdinasir Abdi Nour and stop targeting the press for their work.”

During the August 11 opposition protests–over an alleged attempt to postpone the region’s presidential elections–several people were killed, Somaliland authorities disrupted internet access, and police arrested at least 100 people, according to media reports and a statement by the digital rights group Access Now.

On Monday, August 15, police took Ahmed-Zaki, Abdinasir, and several others arrested during the demonstrations to a regional court and accused the journalists of participating in the protests, according to Sayid. Police did not file charges, and the court ordered Ahmed-Zaki’s release after learning he was a journalist, Sayid told CPJ, adding that he did not know why the court did not order Abdinasir’s release.

Police did not release Ahmed-Zaki, Sayid told CPJ, adding that he did not know the authorities’ justification for continuing to hold him behind bars. In its statement, SOLJA said security agencies did not disclose which crimes the journalists were accused of committing.

Ahmed-Zaki and Abdinasir were transferred to Mandhera Prison, about 60 miles (95 km) northeast of Hargeisa, later that day, according to Sayid and an HRC tweet.

CPJ calls, texts, and app messages to Somaliland police commissioner General Mohamed Adan Saqadhi and Attorney General Hasan Aden were unanswered. 

CPJ has documented several recent press freedom violations in Somaliland, including a ban on the BBC in July and the arrests of at least 18 journalists in April. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On August 5 and August 6, Asayish security forces in several locations in Iraqi Kurdistan interfered with the work of at least 20 journalists and media workers with detentions, harassment, raids, and the closure of at least one media outlet, according to multiple news reports, local press freedom groups Kurdistan Journalists’ Syndicate, the Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy, and the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq, and several journalists affected who spoke to CPJ. 

All of the journalists were covering or preparing to cover demonstrations on August 6 by the opposition party New Generation Movement over taxes, fuel prices, and employment opportunities, according to those sources. 

“Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have reached a new low with their detention and harassment of reporters and media workers seeking to cover civil unrest,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “Iraqi Kurdistan was once a haven for the free press in the Middle East but now the region is a prime perpetrator of press freedom violations.” 

On Friday, August 5, the day before the demonstrations, security forces detained Taif Goran and Biryar Nerwayi, reporters at privately owned television broadcaster NRT, in front of the channel’s office in the city of Duhok in western Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the broadcaster’s report, and Goran, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Goran told CPJ that “the security forces didn’t tell us any legal reason behind our arrest” and that the two were released without charge on bail after 27 hours in custody. Goran said that the forces also confiscated equipment from the office including five cameras, two livestream boxes, five microphones, and two tripods, which were all returned when the journalists were released.

NRT is owned by the Kurdish businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid, the leader of the New Generation Movement, who called for the protests.

On Saturday August 6, Asayish forces raided the privately owned website and TV outlet Rast Media office in the city of Duhok and shut it down without giving any reasons, according to the outlet’s Facebook post and Omed Baroshky, director of Rast News, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Baroshky told CPJ that “we have completed all the legal procedures to work freely as a media outlet, but they asked us to shut it down and go home anyway.” As of August 9, the office has remained closed. 

On the same day at 10:00 a.m. in Erbil, the regional capital, five plainclothes security officers raided the home of Ayub Ali Warty, a reporter at broadcaster Kurdish News Network, which is affiliated with the opposition Gorran party, and detained the journalist, according to Warty, who spoke to CPJ over the phone and posted about the incident on Facebook. The officers escorted him to Asayish headquarters for investigation before releasing him at midnight, he said. Warty said he was verbally abused, but did not provide details of the insults. 

“During the investigation, I was told that if I want to live as a critical journalist, Erbil is not the right place,” he said. He said that he was forced to sign a blank paper without knowing the reason, and was told the paper “could put me in jail for 300 years.” When he was released without charge, Warty said the officers told him he was arrested “by mistake.” 

Also on Saturday in Erbil, NRT reporters Rizgar Kochar, Omed Chomani, and Hersh Qadir were detained by officers in plain clothes, according to two videos posted on Facebook by the broadcaster and Qadir, who told CPJ via phone that the officers also raided his home. Qadir said they were arrested in front of their office, and when they asked about the officers’ identity “they stressed that they are Asayish forces and we have to go with them.” He said the officers turned the journalists over to armed security forces who placed them in hoods and took them to the Asayish headquarters in Erbil. He said he believes that “the only reason was to prevent us from covering the demonstrations.” Qadir said the three were released without charge after six hours and after they were forced to sign documents without being allowed to read them. 

Also on Saturday, NRT reporters Diyar Mohammed and Soran Mohammed and NRT cameraman Mahmoud Razgar were arrested by security forces while covering a protest in the town of Chamchamal, in Sulaymaniyah governorate in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a Facebook post by the broadcaster and Soran Mohammed, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Soran Mohammed told CPJ that security forces blocked the crew’s camera, ordered the journalists to go with them to their headquarters in the city, and seized their equipment including two cameras, one tripod, and two microphones. The officers told the journalists that they would remain in custody until the demonstrations were dispersed, he said. The three were released without charge three hours later, but the officers kept their equipment until Sunday, he said. 

On the same day in the city of Sulaymaniyah, a crew with independent news website Westga News, made up of chief editor and owner Sirwan Gharib, photographer Zanyar Mariwan, and editors Hevar Hiwa and Arkan Jabar, was arrested by security forces while covering demonstrations, according to a Westga News statement and Gharib, who spoke to CPJ via phone call. In the statement, Westga News said “the team was there to cover the demonstrations in an impartial and professional manner, and their arrest is against the laws and freedom of the press.” Gharib said the crew was detained for almost four hours before it was released without charge. 

In the same city on Saturday, Zhilya Ali, reporter for the privately owned internet television channel and news website Diplomatic, was detained with the outlet’s cameraman Azhi Abdulqadir the moment they stepped out of a taxi when they arrived to cover a protest, Ali told CPJ via phone. In a Facebook post, Ali said the two were arrested and brought to Asayish headquarters in order “to be prevented from covering the demonstrations.” Ali told CPJ that the security forces confiscated her phone, which they returned after she and the cameraman were released without charge two hours later. 

Also on Saturday, Hardi Osman, reporter for the independent website Peregraph was detained for five hours while he was trying to cover the protests in Sulaymaniyah city, according to a tweet by his employer and the reporter who spoke to CPJ over the phone. He said that the forces took him to Asayish headquarters before transferring him to a section of Kani Goma prison. 

He said that the forces also seized his equipment, including his phone, his microphone, and a voice recorder, and forced him to fill out a form asking “very personal questions” — details of which he did not provide to CPJ — before he was released without charge and without the equipment. He said he retrieved the equipment from Asayish headquarters on Tuesday.

Also in Sulaymaniyah city on Saturday, Awder Omer, video reporter for news website NasKurd, was covering a protest live on the website’s Facebook page when two members of the Asayish forces seized his phone and confiscated and broke his mobile internet modem, he told CPJ via phone. “They told me to leave and not cover the protests,” he said. 

On the same day in the city of Kalar, in Sulaymaniyah governorate Mohammed Mahmood, reporter for the independent broadcaster Radio Deng, was detained by security forces while covering a protest and held for five hours before he was released without charge, according to a Facebook post by the radio station and Mahmood, who spoke to CPJ via phone. 

Mahmood said that security forces interrupted his reporting on Facebook Live for Radio Deng and asked him to delete his footage. When he refused, he said they beat him on his legs and arms and took him to Asayish headquarters, where they asked him to sign a paper which they would not allow him to read. When he refused again, he said they beat him again. 

On Saturday also in Sulaymaniyah, journalist Snur Karim and camera operator Mohammed Azad Majeed of the U.S.-Congress funded Voice of America Kurdish were detained by Asayish security forces for two hours while covering a protest on Facebook Live for the outlet, according to an email from Voice of America public relations officer Anna Morris and a VOA statement provided to CPJ. 

In the statement, VOA said the team had received permission from local authorities to report there but was detained for “several hours.” Their mobile phones and microphone were seized and later returned, Morris said. 

Morris told CPJ the two were taken to a prison where Karim was forced to sign a “pledge” without being allowed to read it and was asked personal questions about her family, car, lifestyle, and political views. 

When contacted by CPJ via messaging app for comment on the arrests, raids, closures, and alleged beatings, Sulaymaniyah governorate Asayish security forces spokesperson Yasin Sami directed CPJ to a Facebook post by the Sulaymaniyah security directorate, a committee representing local government, police, and Asayish forces, denying the arrests. CPJ called Duhok Asayish director Zeravan Baroshku who said security forces were acting on a “court order” but would not comment further. CPJ also contacted Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed for comment via messaging app and phone call, but didn’t receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Monday, June 27, a vehicle carrying the journalists along with government and military officials was damaged by an explosive device in the town of Qabno, in Somalia’s central Hiiraan region, in Hirshabelle state, according to multiple media reports, a tweet by the Federation of Somali Journalists, and a joint statement from the local press freedom groups Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the Somali Media Association (SOMA).

Those reports alternatively refer to the explosive device as a roadside bomb and a land mine. CPJ was unable to immediately determine the nature of the device.

Three soldiers were killed in the explosion, and Abdikarin and Khalid, reporters with the state-owned Hirshabelle TV broadcaster, were injured, according to those sources and Hirshabelle Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Mohamed Abdirahman, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

The journalists were covering a military campaign against the militant group Al-Shabaab at the time of the attack, Mohamed told CPJ. He said the journalists were “doing well” and had sustained some injuries to their faces but did not have any broken bones. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to those sources.

“The constant threat of physical attack looms dark over Somali journalists, and the only way to assuage these fears is to root out impunity and ensure accountability whenever a journalist is harmed in the course of their work,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should credibly investigate the injuries sustained by journalists Abdikarin Mohamed Siyad and Khalid Mohamud Osman in a recent explosion, as part of broader efforts to guarantee safety for journalists in Somalia.”

On Monday, the two journalists were taken to the town of Guri El, in central Galmudug state, and on Tuesday were evacuated to the Somali capital of Mogadishu for further medical attention, according to Mohamed and news reports.

Hirshabelle police spokesperson Diini Roble told CPJ via messaging app that police were “working to know the people behind this bombing.”

Bashiir Abdullahi Osman, the SJS press freedom coordinator for Hirshabelle state, told CPJ via messaging app, “Hirshabelle reporters work in a bad situation. The journalists’ fears are the explosions and threats posed by Al-Shabaab.”

On Wednesday, Hirshabelle Vice-President Yusuf Ahmed Hagar visited the two journalists at Kalkaal Hospital in Mogadishu and promised to cover all expenses they incurred while hospitalized, Osman said.

On November 20, 2021, a suicide bombing killed journalist Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled and injured Sharmarke Mohamed Warsame and Abdukadir Abdullahi Nur in Mogadishu, as CPJ documented at the time.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

The investigation, “The Assassination of Sardasht Osman: Debunking the Official Story”, is the fifth in a series of investigations to push for local justice as part of the A Safer World for the Truth initiative, a project by leading press freedom organisations Free Press Unlimited, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The group’s analysis of the “official investigation” revealed significant gaps and irregularities, including a failure to interview family members and friends. Instead they were threatened to remain silent and support the official storyline.

Iraq currently ranks 172nd out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. All the killers of murdered journalists in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have operated with impunity, according to CPJ’s 2021 Global Impunity Index where Iraq is ranked third.

The murdered journalist, Sardasht Osman, worked in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and wrote about corruption and nepotism. In December 2009, he wrote a satirical article, ‘I am in love with Barzani’s daughter’, in which he juxtaposed the luxurious lifestyle of President Massoud Barzani’s family with the hardships of average Kurdish citizens. Shortly after, he started receiving death threats.

Inconsistencies in the official storyline are most pronounced with regards to: the kidnapping of Sardasht, transporting Sardasht (or his body) from Erbil to Mosul, the official autopsy report, the allegation that the perpetrators were from the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, and the alleged motive for his assassination, the A Safer World For The Truth investigation found.

“There are always people who don’t want to listen when you start telling the truth, who get furious at the slightest whisper. To stay alive though, we must tell the truth.

I will continue to write until the last minute of my life.”

-Sardasht’s personal response to threats prior to his assassination.

The case of Sardasht is illustrative of the fate of many young, critical journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan, including: Asos Hardi, Kawa Garmyani, Wedad Hussein and Soran Mama Hama. Since Sarshadt’s murder, at least 22 journalists have been killed in Iraq in connection to their work, eight of whom were killed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Furthermore, journalists like Sardasht who work in places with limited press freedom are often forced to self-censor to avoid crossing certain red lines that can trigger violence by authorities. Threats and attacks against these journalists are rarely investigated promptly, effectively and thoroughly..

In light of these findings, A Safer World for the Truth has published a series of concrete recommendations to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and to the international community:

First, Kurdish authorities must immediately end all harassment, intimidation, and threats against Sardasht’s family members and friends and initiate a transparent and impartial reinvestigation of the case of Sardasht Osman.

Second, advocates, particularly those with diplomatic and economic relations to the KRG, should exert continuous pressure on Kurdish authorities to investigate threats against and murders of journalists according to international standards.

Third, States should impose targeted sanctions on KRG officials and authorities for preventing prompt, effective, thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into crimes against journalists.

Finally, supporters of press freedom should join us in calling on the Kurdish authorities to develop a formal independent safety mechanism tasked with monitoring and acting on threats and attacks against journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan. By providing journalists and media workers with effective protective and preventive measures, we can begin to break the cycle of impunity.

Jules Swinkels, Lead Researcher for this investigation, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), states:

“The case of Sardasht is emblematic of what can happen when journalists push the boundaries of their confined freedom of expression. Sardasht wrote satirically about Kurdistan’s most powerful individuals, and was kidnapped and assassinated because of it. Tragically, his case demonstrates that a complete lack of political will to investigate and solve murders of journalists domestically, is one of the main reasons for impunity. The recommendations in this report provide a pathway to let justice prevail in cases of murdered journalists.”

Yeganeh Rezaian, Senior Researcher, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), states:

“Reporters must be able to speak truth to power, uncover corruption, hold the powerful to account, and yes, satirize public figures without fear of intimidation, violence, and death. And when authorities pursue an agenda of persecution against journalists and tolerate impunity for their assailants, it is imperative they not be allowed to evade justice and prolong a campaign of violent censorship. This report offers a clear roadmap for how to address the case of Sardasht and ensure greater transparency and accountability for cases in the future.”

Sabrina Bennoui, Middle East Director, Reporters without Borders (RSF), states:

“Twelve years after the assassination of Sardasht Osman, the authorities still stick to their official version – which the journalist’s entourage has never believed in, regarding his writings critical of the government. The investigation was as opaque as it was expeditious and it is clear that it did not reveal the truth about the perpetrators and their real motives.”

Previous investigations and recommendations can be found here.

The full investigation, in English, Kurdish, and Arabic, can be downloaded here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Ahmed Zidan.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Anthony Barnett.