|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Last Updated: Apr 3, 2012 - 2:47:55 AM |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Somalia: Somaliland court sentences reporter to 3-year jail term
25 Aug 25, 2009 - 4:14:19 PM
|
BERBERA, Somalia Aug 25 (Garowe Online) - A regional court in Somalia’s breakaway republic of Somaliland has sentenced an independent reporter to serve a three-year jail term, Radio Garowe reports.
Mr. Mohamed Said “Harago,” editor of Berberanews.com, was sentenced to serve three years in jail by a Somaliland judge on Monday. He is not currently in jail, but Judge Osman Ibrahim Fanah ordered Somaliland police to immediately arrest Mr. Harago.
Separately, Mr. Yasin Jama Ali, a reporter for Berberanews.com and a stringer for the independent station Radio Horyaal, was charged with defamation of Somaliland public officials, including posting negative articles about the mayor of Berbera, a port city along the Gulf of Aden.
Mr. Ali, who defended himself in court by saying that the posted articles were readers’ opinions, was ordered to immediately stop his journalism work and a ban was placed on the news site, Berberanews.com.
Somaliland's government has taken measures against the independent media in recent weeks, ahead of the presidential elections slated for September 27, 2009. Journalists have been arrested and independent radio and television stations have been shut down.
Located in northwestern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the Horn of Africa country in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.
Source: Garowe Online
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
