Somalilandsun – It is illegal to arrest or detain a media house staff member while in pursuit of performing journalistic work.
This was determined by the chief justice Prof Aden Haji Ali during a press briefing in Hargeisa where he also stated that the judiciary has established new mechanism to handle journalists and media house thought to have or have actually contravened laws of the country.
“As from today henceforth police are required to have a warrant issued by a court before arrest of journalists or operatives of a media house in Somaliland” said the chief justice thus concurring with the Somaliland Journalists Association-Solja that “Journalists Have Rights to Pursue Information on Privatized Public Property”
Adding that the judiciary is appraised that “Sometimes, the police officers have breached the rights of journalists as they keep the journalists in detention without a court Warrant” in apparent reaction to not only the recent outcry by the Somaliland Journalist Association-SOLJA over arrests in Berbera where a number were imprisoned for reporting on the controversial privatization of the national fuel depot regular but regular ones about wanton and illegal detention of its members. Continue reading
