Imprisoned Somali Journalist Freed
Journalist Said Fadhaye was released from detention on Somalia after approximately two weeks. (Wikimedia Commons)
British-Somali journalist Said Fadhaye was conditionally released from detention in Somalia on December 5. Although he is free to continue reporting, he “will continue supporting the Somali government with their investigations whenever he is needed,” according to his colleague Moulid Hujale.
Fadhaye was taken into custody by the Somalian government after a lethal shooting near the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on November 20. The details about Fadhaye’s connection to the incident are unclear.
Fadhaye remarked on Twitter, “What happened on Wednesday was the WORST & most traumatic experience in my life,” going on to recount the sequence of events. He was at a Somali military compound in the same vehicle as the victim, humanitarian aid worker and activist Almas Elmaan, when he was shot.
Somalia is considered a highly dangerous country for journalists, ranked 164 of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’s World Press Freedom index. Between 1992 and 2019, 67 journalists have been killed in the country, according to statistics published by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Fadhaye is the only reporter that Somalia has imprisoned so far this year.