HARGEISA, Somalia July 29 - Police authorities in Somalia’s breakaway republic of Somaliland shut down an independently owned television station and arrested a journalist, Radio Garowe reports.
Ms. Nimo Samriye, a reporter for Horn Cable TV in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, told Puntland-based Radio Garowe that heavily armed police units raided the TV station’s offices “without warrant.�
She stated that Mohamed Abdi Illig, the head of news section, asked the police officers if they had a warrant.
“They [police] then arrested him [Illig],� Ms. Nimo said. No officials from the Somaliland administration have spoken publicly about the raid or the journalist’s arrest.
Somaliland authorities have accused local media of misreporting clan violence in the region and therefore "threatening the peace." But journalist watchdog groups have accused Somaliland President Dahir Riyale of power abuse ahead of the September presidential election.
Meanwhile, two journalists with Radio Horyaal remain in jail and have not been brought to court yet.
Somaliland is located in northwestern Somalia and unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the country in 1991. The separatist republic has not been recognized internationally.