Wednesday, January 16, 2008
BBC Somali service stringer Ayanle Hussein Abdi was arrested Tuesday as he headed home to Beledweyne, the capital of Hiraan region, the region's governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar said.
"Ayanle was propagating (lies) about the security situation by covering information showing nobody has peace in the region. We will bring him to justice," Hagar said.
Hagar also accused the journalist of dodging arrest as authorities sought him.
The Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders called for his release, lamenting the worsening climate for journalists in the shattered East African state.
"The very few journalists who continue to work in Somalia at risk of their lives are easy prey," the group said in a statement. "Week after week, the authorities flout the most elementary rules of justice towards journalists who annoy them."
The BBC correspondent's arrest brings to four the number of journalists currently being held by authorities in Somalia, a country without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Source: AFP, Jan 16, 2008