Continued detention of journalist Abdimalik Muse Oldon in Somaliland unacceptable-FESOJ
NUSOJ PRESS STATEMENT
Mogadishu, 27, 05, 2019: The National Union of Somali Journalists condemns the continued arbitrary detention of Abdimalik Muse Oldon a journalist active in online platforms and often report on political and social issues in Somaliland, who was arrested on April 17 ,2019 and has remained in detention ever since.
The arrest of the journalist came after he posted in his social media some critic articles that the Somaliland government leaders didn’t like them who then ordered the arrest of the journalist. He was first detained in Buao town but soon was transferred to Hargeisa Central Prison where he is now jailed.
According to the lawyer of journalist Abdimalik Muse Oldon, there is no enough evidence that could lead to the prosecution of the journalist, so that the authorities intend to prolong the detention of the journalist and that is unlawful and illegal in the context of Somaliland’s laws and also international laws.
The continuing detention of Abdimalik Muse Oldon is unacceptable and we demand his immediate release,” Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu ,Secretray General of National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ) said. “His arrest is a flagrant breach of international law and testify to a desire on the part of the Somaliland government to openly restrict the media’s freedom and to provide the public the information they need to know.”
In collaboration with concerned media groups NUSOJ will continue to advocate and work towards the release of the detained and to strengthen the protection of journalists.”
Somaliland Supreme Court overturned a decision issued by a Hargeisa-based court judge on Saturday which ordered return of detained journalist Abdimalik Muse Oldon to his hometown of Burao, the journalist’s lawyer has said.
Lawyer Mubarik Abdi Ismail said during a sitting on Saturday, the Marodi-jeh Regional Court directed the police to return the journalist to Burao town where he was arrested on April 17 following months of manhunt by the police.
The judge Ahmed Dalmar Ismail has also ruled that his court in Hargeisa has no territorial jurisdiction to hear the case brought by the police against the journalist.
Abdimalik Muse Oldon was arrested in February 2017 shortly after he returned from a trip to Mogadishu, Somalia. He was alleged to have supported Somali’s new president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and subsequently was sentenced to two years in jail in April but he was later released.
The journalist has been in exile in Ethiopia for a while before he returned back to Burao in Somaliland in March this year.
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