The secretary-general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) Abdalle Ahmed Mumin appeared at the Banadir Regional Court for the third hearing.
Mr. Mumin courageously spoke before the court as he posed very serious questions.
Mumin asked the court why he was detained without a court warrant on October 11 and why he was held at Godka Jila’ow which is a notorious detention prison despite the Somali government announced to have closed the dungeon.
The journalist’s lawyers asked the Banadir Regional Court in Mogadishu to summon high-ranking government officials from the information ministry, the intelligence service and the airports authority that are associated with his arrest .
The debacle began on 10th October when Abdalle read a joint statement by journalists in a press conference raising concerns about a new directive which had been issued by Somalia’s Information Ministry.
The directive “prohibited dissemination of extremism ideology messages, both from official media broadcasts and social media,” and suspended more than 40 social media pages where terrorists “have been spreading their wrong messages and tracking on other media channels”.
Journalists were concerned that the vague wording in the law would limit their ability to report freely on ongoing operations against any armed groups and restrict their media freedoms.
Somalia is regarded as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as they face threats from both government and militant groups like Al-Shabab and a few clan militias.
More than 50 media workers have been killed since 2010 according to RSF’s press freedom index.
The case was adjourned to an unkown date next week .
