Somaliland
Somaliland: Jamhuriya Editor Mr. Mohamed Omar Abdi (Cirro) Arrested by The Government
July 5, 2011 · 35 Comments
HARGEISA (SomalilandPress)—Somaliland officials arrested the editor of Jamhuriya newspaper one of the top local newspaper in the country at his office according to the papers staff. Jamhuriya newspaper staff members that were present when the arrest took place said five police officials and three criminal investigation division(CID) carrying an arrest warrant from Hargeisa municipality court took Mr. Abdi from his office forcefully.
Mr. Abdi was detained for several hours at the criminal investigation divisions (CID) headquarter until the evening when he was granted bail. Per the commander of the criminal investigation division (CID) Mr. Hassan Ahmed Aden, Mr. Abdi’s arrested came after the attorney general brought defamation charges against him after he published news last week. The news in question was regarding how Hargeisa local governments build new offices for the attorney general and his staff however the cost of the construction was not included in Hargeisa local government’s budget expanses. At this moment no court date has been set for the case against Mr. Mohamed Omar Abdi yet.
Source:SomalilandPress
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By Mo Guled
Tags: Jamhuriya editor arrested, Somaliland reporter arrest, Somalilandpress
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Some people think Press-Freedom means, engaging in mischief and constructing lies, then reporting them. All News Media need to realize that they have an obligation to report the truth and that their sources are providing them with reliable facts….because applying the rules of the jungle would not work in a civilized democratic country like Somaliland that has Laws that govern its Media.
In the West, when the Media breaks the law and abuses its power, there are dealth with accordingly in the justice system after they have been arrested by local authorities,,,,nothing different here.
@Abdi
If you are celebrating the arrest of a Journalist then you have supported those who wanna silence the truth. Don't open your mouth and compare what happened to this innocent brother to the West. The West have a freedom of speech; Religion and press, In America i can say whatever i wanna say and write whatever i wish to write as long as i don't incite violence to the point of calling the killing of the president anything else is tolerable. What happened to freedom of speech? Somaliland has a long way to go to respect freedom of speech and press after all this is a country that has never known freedom.
Ahmed,
How old are you? please don't bother to answer it as i know your brain is still in the early teens.
Anyone who writes incorrect information IS liable to answer his claims in front of the court. How many times have we seen the solicitors for big newspapers running around trying to limit the damages in the west. It is no different in our country. ANY JOURNO taking the freedom of printing inaccurate information should face the full force of the law.
I am also glad to see that Somaliland's justice system is functioning well in ensuring citizen's rights and granting bail conditions.
To Abdi,
I disagree with you, unless you know more than us. we do not know what this gentleman reported is lie. However, to me its close to the truth as we all know in Africa we do things differently and when somone either against it or reported it , he/she will be in trouble. I hope Somaliland will not repeat Siyad Barre's history and his ways of doing things.
I call on the government to interfere this situation and release this innocent man. This is what Siad Bare's government used to do to the press. Write our wishes or you will be jailed. Shame on the Police to arrest a journalist with force. Paying a bail will not help, bc he should have never been arrested to begin with.
Mr Salah read the article brother, the is released. What you on about Said Bare's and staff.
Big mistake on the part of the government. They should have issue order demanding the editor to support his claims with facts. After all, you can't simply say so and so is corrupt and is taking kickbacks without showing some proof. In my opinion, there are two underlying issues that are involved with this case. Firstly, it has become common practice for many Somali media outlets to simply post stuff online claiming it to be FACT! And this is commonly done to settle old scores, get revenge, tribal rivalry etc. Secondly, if this man is in fact innocent then Somaliland needs to seriously address this issue they have with news outlets. As a young democracy, the SL government needs to realize that the media has an important role to play in keeping any government honest – carrot and stick.
We all know that those who run the Municipality are corrupt individuals and the public shares with them, but muffling press is something we don't approve. As Mr. W said, he should asked to proof what he wrote before they put him in jail. We should be careful to gag the press freedom, until we stand fully, but our press has to respect the ethics. There are those who reached beyond control, like Qaran who's editor is based in London and Waaheen. Just yesterday Qaran editor was saying "Qudhmiye" instead of calling the ruling party's name of Kulmiye. this is unprecedented and beyond comprehension, someone from Somaliland is calling this kind of name to our party. This is what the Faqash use to call the people of Somaliland. Hence, the law of the press has to be enforced fully and any website who breaks this law should be accountable to what he/she say.
This is media based on pure partisanship my friend…there is a degree of meliciousness and intent to cause damage intentionally because they affiliate themselves with particular party or ideology. They don't think about the consequences of their actions or consider the obligations to their people which is to be balanced and report facts. They intentionally create stories to cause damage and that doesn't have place in press freedom
I think they should go to proper schools and learn what it entails to be a journalist and free media.
i'm getting frustrated the increasing scandals of our one year old government,, enough was said how ignorantly the police are treating with the media even if the private run media are misbehaving or acting unethically.
What happened last night at hargeisa airport is unacceptable the life of many citizens were put in danger after their airplane was forced not to land due to airport electricity difficulties.
Further more, there is severe Oil shortage nation wide and this is happen because of poor government management.
So,,,,, speechless.
@ Dalmar
Its not poor management brother but a lack of investment from the last Government. At least this administration had managed to open the Airport for Business for the first time in its history during night-time what have the last government done? Nothing, absolutely nothing! So after 1year only in office you cannot expect them to do everything from the few shilling they collect in taxes at Berbera Port etc. Think out side the box brother!
It's so annoying when guul-wade tries to challenge you,,, @ali if i ask you do you know the year hargeisa airport began night flights?
You lost me there and just to remind you this piece is not about Airports but detained reporter.
Dalmar, We all know you are one of those malicious. die hard supporters of corrupt, undemocratic party such as UDUB. Remembering from your facebook i recall you spreading malicious lies and some times driving a wedge between the good citizens of Somaliland for whatever the reason…..imagine what you would do if you had access to media, no doubt use it to undermine peace and stability in our country instead of voicing a constructive criticism or acting as an agent for change in your country….people like this need to be dealth the appropriate way…..and I am not saying we should condone when the rules are not respected by the authorities involved in the situation.
i do not know you personally but can tell that you are the same person who commenting here with the same name ali,,,and abdi,,,, Guul wade is guulwade what ever shirt we wears.
take time for watching this video and problems our people back home face day and night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8r3H-b9qJs
Maahmaah ayaa waxay tidhaah; Qof weliba wuxuu yahay ayuu ku moodaa! hadaad adigu DALMAROOW isticmaashid magacyo badan dadka kale kula mid maaha ee taa ogoow. Abdi anigu ma ihi ciduu yahayna garan maayo ilaahay igu ogyahay – there you go.
@ali,,, accept my apology,, i know it is harsh for calling your fellow citizen guulwade, sorry about that,,, but my intention was not to cause harm but requesting from you to differentiate qof jeclaysi and wadaninimo and be truthful about the weakness of your leaders.
i trust you that you are not the other radical guy,,, intii ina dhex martayna hirdan saaxiibtinimo u daa.
Apology accepted no harm done brother.
You are right there were many sensitive issue happening in Somaliland and I think it's because bad leadersip.
So now our utterly corrupt courts of law and the incompetent Hargeisa municipality are the new dictators detaining whoever they want?? Cajiib!! When will our country learn to be law abiding and respect the freedom of speech enshrined in our constitution?
This week in London-UK News of the World (newspaper) was making the Headlines and is accused of 'phone hacking' which will mean long prison terms for all those involved so what is press freedom mean in Somaliland anyway? Can you write and say whatever you like and get away with it? Please ask yourself these questions before you come to any conclusion.
Cheers.
Press have a responsibility to their readers. They just cannot do what they want to get the 'truth'. Violating peoples rights in the name of freedom of speech is not acceptable. They should treat them like spies not reporters. I'm appalled.
The reporter was doing his duties and he was just reporting the misuse of government resources. You sound like you are supporting you nephew's action not reporter's findings.
@ Mohamed,
Like I said reporting on the government or a public figure carries with it responsibility. By responsibility I mean ensuring the information you are giving is correct. Since this government is barely in office a year I doubt this reporter had even seen this years government expenditure report nor requested this. Think brother before you comment. All he had to do was get the evidence make sure before he misleads the public for his own interests or due to his own lack of education.
The article did not report any investigations done by the reporter and also, it was not clear whether he was truthful or not. But the state seemed broke and the leadership is not good.
@ Mohamed Mohamed. If he has been arrested and a warrant was obtained then he did not get his information from the proper channels or why else would be be questioned or held for questioning? Government expenditure reports should be requested at the end of the financial year. Logically you can already see his reporting was premature and without insurance of facts. May be he isn't educated in public finance or he listened to gossip from what he thought was a reliable source who should know? Still that does not excuse his obvious lack of creditability?
Its just sad how everyone think he or she is a journalist and can write whatever they wish in the name of some vague idea about freedom. There are limits and red lines which one must not cross, but if these individuals have proofs than they should bring them before the court and save us the trouble. Just bring the proofs to court.Simple.
Urgent.
To SLPress could you please give us indept news about the -Drought Crisis- that is happen in Horn of africa currently. Also Which areas is this happening in Somaliland And in Neighbouring Somalia,Ethiopia,Djbouti. What is the SL gov. doing and how is is the rainfell season in Mandeeqa SL currently. Reading the Int. News I see that its being written as the worst crisis then the 1984-5 Ethiopian drought.
SL- waan sogayaa inaaddaa soo qortaan abaarah kaa socdaa somaliland iyo Geeska africaa oo dahaan. waayoo waraakoo waa waaraan laa,laa leeh ee baa noo soo jeedyaa waraakaas.
http://www.unhcr.org/4e12fe0d6.html
Folk, Lets not confuse freedom of speech with what is not acceptable in democratic or any other civilized country. And lets take emotions out of this sort of situations by applying common sense. Of course, you can speak your mind as media or as individual citizen that is called voicing your opinion which is based on you perception and you wouldn't be arrested for that anywhere. You can also report facts about a situation as media, but when you engage in publication of unproven allegations or manufactured lies as goes on with lots of bipartisan media in our nation with the intent to damage reputations or cause mischief…or undermining a section of the media law, don't count on press freedom for your defense.
I guess, those folks haven't heard of being innocent until proven guilty also….the question is can you condemn some one or his organization and assign guilt when they were not investigated, charged or tried in court of law is pure recklessness in part of the media. The question is not whether corruption exists or not…..we all suspect that corruption is rampant in municipal government, but there are mechanisms put in place to approach or exposing this sort of things and there are mechanisms for that. Lets not just jump to conclusions and muddy or defame peoples' characters and think we can just apology later because we are the media and we have inherent right to do whatever we want. Media is power folk….and with power comes with responsibilities. In addition, if we think some thing is wrong with laws or institutions that we have, lets strengthen them by pointing out what is wrong with them, not by being bipartisan.
If we cover the corruptions how can we find transparency in the government departments. Over protecting them will make the leaders to became untouchable gangsters which will result their children to act like they are first clad citizens. We have seen similar situation in the past..
Give the police and other bodies a credit, I am confident that the police and the legal system will do their job when the time comes (that is when alligations are proven) and put any one proven to have misused public funds/money in jail after due process. For now however, the editor didn't do his job right and indulged in bias and in the process probably broke the law….i,e. by participating in a defamation, where he fail to provide any tangible evidence, that is why in my opinion he is detained and questioned….where he was then processed to prove his case in a court of law in future time, and this is where his guilt and innocence will be decided.
Lets not blame the president and his adminstrationm because you don't understand the complexity of the process in Somaliland. Lets clear away from bipartisanship friends
No over protection is being advocated bro, we can use the appropriate avenue to ensure the laws and the constitution are respected. But first we need the facts, we shouldn't sensationalize things or use them for political purposes. That is all I am saying. I am willing to support any government I believe will get the job done properly. In case we forgot already, Silaanyo's adminstration has fought corruption at all levels, instituted tangible changes by appointing independent committees or bodies to handle investigation and proceedings, reduced the massively overgrown government instutitions and eliminated redundancies with in the govenment. He also reform tax collection and fought corrupt cows that were feeding on the meager taxes collected from poor citizens and nearly doubled the annual budget to 100 million while at same not only doubling the amount the military and other civil servants are paid in order to stem insecurities and provide stability in our country. In addition, you have seen the way his more capable ministers and civil servants were selected for their posts in a democratic and transparent process. He also appointed a committee to look into the state of the legal system, how it handles cases and over crowding in prisons. Report found discrepencies and some holes which will be followed by reform.
Lets not over look the facts or cry wolf every time some bias media scews reality for their own political gain. All I am saying is lets be more logical and objective. I have always supported UDUB until they degressed to undemocratic and authoraterial party. not to mention their corrupt and inept leaders who play the tribal game to hang on to thier seats and deglect the nation. I am greatfull that we dont hear the selling our government and natural resources for pennies to unknown players and then pocketing that money while the rest of the nation starves. I hope we didn't forget these lessons. When I see UDUB striving for more democracy and reforming itself, I will be the first to support them until then I will not be taken for a fool. I will use my vote for bettering my nation.
I hope we all have eyes to see what is obvious brothers and sisters. And remember if you think something is wrong with this new adminstration, voice your concerns in a more civilized discussion and bombard the concern miniteries or institutions with email stating your concerns more clearly and demanding answers.
I AM VERRY SORRY THE ARESSTE THE EDITOR OF SOMALI LAND
BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD MAN