Journalist Muhyadin Husni, a reporter with Warsan Radio as well as regional correspondent for Shabelle Media Network (Radio Shabelle) is still in custody and the Shabab administration is yet to comment on the reason of his arrest. “A group of hooded armed men came to the radio station on Saturday afternoon (31 October 2009) and arrested our reporter Muhyadin Husni,” said Hilal Sheik Shuayb, the Director of Warsan Radio in Baidoa who spoke to NUSOJ. “The armed men are still within the radio compound and they have confiscated the keys to the radio station from the security guards,” Hilal added.  “Our reporter is still in detention, we don’t know the motive behind all these, since the radio is not on air now after it was closed officially by the administration,” Hilal added.

In Mogadishu, a Somali war photographer, Mohamed Dahir, who is an AFP photo stringer and Mohamoud Muktar Koofi, a Universal TV cameraman, were kept for 48 hours in a detention centre at Villa Somalia (presidemntial palace) by the government police after they were seen taking photographs of African Union tanks firing at Bakara market, following insurgents attack on the bases of government soldiers and African Union peacekeepers along Maka Al-Mukarama road, the strategic road that connects villa Somalia to the airport, on Wednesday 28 October.

Before the journalists were detained, the policemen seized the cameras before erasing the films and photographs they had taken, according to the journalists. “They detained us at the Maka Al-Mukarama road, where heavy fighting was going on between the insurgents and the government forces with support from the African Union peacekeepers,” Mohamed Dahir told NUSOJ.  “I took a couple of photographs at the African Union tanks firing at Bakara Market, then Somali police came to us and confiscated our cameras and detained us at a detention centre in Villa Somalia for 48 hours,” Mohamed Dahir added. “They (Somali police) did not torture us, but they interrogated us on Wednesday night at around 2.00am, while asleep, thinking we were Shabaab members. That was the most difficult case we faced during our detention,” he added. The journalists were later released after the intervention of Yusuf Mire Seeraar, a member of Somali parliament who heard of the arrest on Thursday.
—
For further information, contact:
National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ)
Taleex Street, KM4 Area, Hodan District,
Mogadishu, Somalia, tel/fax: +252 1 859 944,
e-mail: newsletter@nusoj.org  
Internet: http://www.nusoj.org
–~–~———~–~—-~————~——-~–~—-~
National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is a national union representing Somali journalists to promote and protect freedom of the press and the interests and rights of journalists. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Freedom of Expression exchange (IFEX), Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) and Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA). NUSOJ is partner with Reporters without Borders (RWB).