IPI condemns rearrest of Somali press advocate

Saturday February 25, 2023

Authorities have to without delay free Abdalle Ahmed Mumin

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin/Handout

The IPI worldwide community strongly condemns the rearrest in Somalia of Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, a revered press freedom advocate and the secretary average of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS). Somali authorities have to without delay and unconditionally free him and conclusion their assaults on press freedom.

Security forces detained Mumin on the Jazeera Hotel, in Mogadishu, the capital metropolis of Somalia, on February 23, 2023, at the same time he was attending a public session occasion. His rearrest was denounced and condemned by regional press protection communities as element of the Somali authorities’s continued persecution of a well known press freedom advocate. This is the third time that Mumin has been arrested since October.

The arrest got here two weeks after the Benadir regional courtroom sentenced Abdalle Ahmed Mumin to 2 months in jail following what regional communities pronounced was a sham trial. However, when he was delivered to Mogadishu Central jail to serve his time period, jail officers despatched him away, identifying that he had already accomplished his sentence using time served after his preliminary arrest on October 11, 2022.

It seriously isn’t clear what the idea is behind Mumin’s rearrest, and authorities failed to furnish an arrest warrant. Mumin is an outspoken press advocate who was detained and dragged earlier than courts a number of instances over the previous few months in a harassment marketing campaign in opposition to him. His preliminary arrest got here simply after the SJS joined with different press freedom organizations to elevate issues concerning the authorities’s new anti-terrorism directive, which civil society says curtails press freedom.

Mohamed Ibrahim, presdient of SJS, advised IPI that Mumin was arrested on the “verbal order” of an appeals courtroom head. “His family is not allowed to visit him, he is detained in a tiny cell, overcrowded with already six detainees, at Mogadishu central prison, and has not been given food since yesterday”, Ibrahim pronounced.

“Authorities must immediately release Adalle Ahmed Mumin, who is a respected press freedom advocate’’ said Amy Brouillette, IPI Director of Advocacy. “IPI strongly condemns this arbitrary arrest, which continues a campaign of harassment against Mumin and SJS for their important work defending press freedom in Somalia.”