A newspaper owner in Somaliland and his editor-in-chief have been given three-year prison sentences on charges of spreading falseinformation and defaming government officials.
Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, owner of the Somali-language paper, Haatuf, and editor Ahmed Ali Egeh were also fined 25 million shillings (£2,350) each.
The publishing licence of Haatuf and its English-language stablemate, the Somaliland Times, was revoked. In fact, Haatuf’s publication was suspended in April after it published reports about alleged embezzlement by the energy and interior ministers.
Gabobe was arrested earlier this month, but Egeh is reported to have gone into hiding.
Journalists, human rights groups and the leaders of the opposition Justice and Welfare Party have criticised the sentences. Mohamed-Rashid Muhumed Farah, secretary general of the Somaliland Journalists Association, called it “the worst sentence against the Somaliland media.”
Clea Kahn-Sriber, who heads the Africa desk of the press freedomwatchdog, Reporters Without Borders, said: “This is a witch-hunt against journalists who just did their duty to report the news.
“The authorities are breaking their own laws by giving these journalists jail terms because press offences are no longer punishable by imprisonment
Source:Â Reporters Without Borders
