15/05/2025
?Alarming escalation?: At least 41 journalists targeted since March in Somalia
Kampala, Uganda, May 15, 2025 ? Somali security personnel have arrested, assaulted, or harassed at least 41 private-media journalists since mid-March, in what local press rights groups have called a ?painful experience? and an ?alarming escalation? in attacks on the media. Most of these press freedom violations were connected to coverage of national security issues, including the protracted conflict between the government and the militant group Al-Shabaab. Since Somalia?s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a ?total war? on the Al-Shabaab following his 2022 election, the government has attempted to censor media coverage of the militant group?s ?extremism ideology.? Amid a deteriorating...
