Somali authorities should immediately release Sabir Abdulkadir Warsame, a broadcast journalist with the privately owned Somali Cable TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sabir was arrested by regional security forces in the semi-autonomous state of Jubbaland on February 8 and has been held without charge in the state capital of Kismayo, according to a report by the Voice of America and Hassan Adde, general director of Somali Cable TV who spoke to CPJ.
Hassan told CPJ that, at the time of his arrest, Sabir was interviewing members of the public about the first anniversary of the election of Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo).
“Arresting and detaining Sabir Abdulkadir for simply doing his job as a journalist is outrageous,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal in New York. “He should be immediately released without charge and free to continue reporting in the public interest.”
Speaking to CPJ through a translator, Jubbaland information minister Abdinur Ali Adan said that he had been informed of Sabir’s arrest. He said that the journalist was in “safe hands” and would be produced in court tomorrow morning, though he said he did not have more information about the court proceedings.
While shooting the interviews, the journalist unintentionally filmed a vehicle carrying charcoal, triggering his arrest, according to Sabir’s colleague who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Charcoal export from Somalia is illegal, according to a 2012 UN Security Council resolution aimed at cutting funding for al-Shabaab.
Hassan told CPJ that he did not know that the journalist had captured any footage of a vehicle ferrying charcoal.
CPJ
