NAIROBI, 5 May 2005 (IRIN) - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over what it said were attacks on the freedom of press in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia.

Reporters there, it added, had been arrested and radio stations threatened with censorship.

In a letter to the president of Puntland, Adde Muse Hirsi, dated 3 May, CPJ said two journalists from the weekly newspaper "Shacab" (Voice of the People), in the town of Garowe, were arrested in April and that there were threats to close the newspaper.

Authorities also planned to introduce identity cards for all journalists, according to CPJ, and that there had been attempts to censor radio coverage of sensitive political issues.

"On April 20, security forces attacked the premises of Shacab, breaking the front gate and damaging the editor's car and other property, according to the newspaper's editor and local press freedom groups.

"The same day, security forces arrested Shacab reporter Abdirashid Qoransey in connection with articles criticising the Puntland authorities. Qoransey was held at a police station for about four hours, but was released after his editor, Abdi Farah Nur, negotiated on his behalf," the CPJ letter to Muse said.

It added that the police had, the following day, gone to look for Farah, who was not at Shacab's office at the time. Farah told CPJ that he went later that day to the police station, where he was arrested and detained for three days. He said police told him that his arrest was in connection with two articles published in Shacab.

On 23 April, police returned to Shacab offices and rearrested Qoransey, according to Farah. Both men were taken to court the following day in Puntland's capital, Garowe, and charged with inciting the public and insulting the president. The charges were dismissed and they were set free the same day.

"Puntland officials have also exerted pressure on radio stations in the region to avoid coverage of controversial political issues, such as whether neighbouring states should be allowed to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia," CPJ quoted the Somali Journalists Network as saying.

[ENDS]

Source: IRIN, May 05, 2005