'He should never have been jailed'

Nairobi - The last of three journalists who were detained in the Somali semi-autonomous region of Puntland was freed early this month, but the newspaper he publishes is to remain banned, a global press freedom watchdog said on Friday.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Abdi Farah Nur was freed on July 5 after staying in custody since his arrest on June 19 for allegedly publishing articles critical of region's leadership and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

"We welcome the release of our colleague Abdi Farah Nur, but he should never have been jailed in the first place," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement. "Farah (Nur) was freed on July 5, but word of his status had not surfaced until today (Friday)."

But the ban remained on the weekly publication Shacab, which Nur is the editor of, according to CPJ.

The watchdog called on Somali authorities to improve the security situation in the chaotic Horn of African nation and to ensure the ban on the weekly was lifted.

"We call on Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, president of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, and Puntland authorities to ensure the security of Abdi Farah Nur, to lift the ban on Shacab and to ensure that journalists can work freely and without fear of reprisal."

On Thursday, Puntland's authorities freed without charge two journalists who were detained for nearly two weeks for reporting mayoral campaigns in the northern Puntland town of Bossaso. - Sapa-AFP