Somaliland Detains investigative Journalists in Sool region

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Somaliland Police Detain Local Journalists


Police in Somalia's breakaway state of Somaliland on Tuesday arrested three journalists in Lascanod district of Sool region, local officials and residents said Wednesday.

According to local authorities, the journalists were picked up alongside four other youths suspected of being involved in criminal activities. The scribes were later released on Wednesday, the officials added.

"Somaliland security forces detained three local TV reporters and four youths," Zaki Hajji, a resident of Lascanod told Somalia Report.

The names of the detained journalists were given as Abdiqani Hassan Gaarshe, Abdirahman Ali Dualle and Barkhad Omar Abdi. The trio was working for local TV stations, namely Somaliland National Tv, Horn cable Tv and Universal Tv.

Police said they were conducting investigations over cases of insecurity blamed on the youths.

"We detained them on Tuesday after we found them carrying interviews with several youths who are suspected of being behind the growing insecurity in the region," a senior police officer Police officer of Somaliland in Sool by condition of anonymity confirmed to Somalia Report in Sool told Somalia Report.

But the journalists were later set free after they were found to be innocent, he said.

A close friend to one of the detained journalists confirmed the release to Somalia Report.

This is not the first time that Somaliland authorities have arrested or detained journalists. The Somaliland Journalists Association has recently come under pressure from Hargeisa authorities, culminating in arbitrary arrests of journalists and crackdown on private press.