Somalia Shuts Down Newspaper, Arrests Editor

By ABDI GULED, ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Oct 17, 2016, 6:05 AM ET

Somali security forces shut down a newspaper and arrested its editor, a colleague said Monday.

Abdi Adan Guled, editor of Xog-Ogaal newspaper, was arrested Sunday after troops raided the Mogadishu headquarters of the publication, one of Somalia's oldest daily newspapers operating.

Guled's arrest comes less than two months before Somalia holds a presidential election, scheduled for November 30.

The National Union of Somali Journalists condemned Guled's arrest and called for his immediate release. No comment could be reached from Somali officials on the latest arrest of a journalist in Somalia.

Threats and intimidations against journalists often increase during the elections in Somalia, which is rated as one of the world's most dangerous countries for media workers, according to journalists. Journalists are targeted by both Islamic extremists and the government, say rights groups.

Last month, gunmen shot dead Abdiaziz Mohamed Ali Haji, who was on his way home from work as a reporter for Shabelle radio, a radio station in Mogadishu. He was the second journalist killed in Somalia this year.

Three journalists were killed in 2015, including one in a bombing claimed by the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said 59 journalists have been killed in Somalia since 1992, shortly after this Horn of Africa nation plunged into chaos.