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Somaliland authorities intensified their repression of independent media through arbitrary arrests, detentions, and intimidation of journalists, with some cases resulting in questionable court proceedings. Somalia Journalists (SJS) documented 10 cases of detentions and arrests between March and July 2025. On 11th May, police arrested journalist Mohamed Abdi Hassan for allegedly inciting violence after he reported on clan tensions in the Sanaag region. On 23rd May, freelance journalist Abdiqadir Mohamed Aw-Hassan was sentenced to six months in prison for “insulting the president” after posting a satirical video online. On 29th May, journalist Warsame Kaafi Abdirashid Aden was detained for interviewing a woman who accused a senior judge of assault. On 9th June, journalist Sa’id Muse Farah from Erigabo was fined after reporting on alleged mismanagement at Erigabo TB Hospital.
Similarly, on 22nd June, Saab TV journalist Abdirisaq Qaasim was detained in Berbera over allegations that he had anonymously posted criticism of senior officials online. He was later transferred to Hargeisa and released after clan mediation. On 1st July, police in Hargeisa arrested journalist Yasir Ahmed Abdillahi after he criticised President Abdirahman Abdillahi Irro’s visit to Qatar. The Maroodi Jeh court later acquitted him for lack of evidence. These incidents highlight a growing pattern of politically motivated arrests, judicial harassment, and censorship aimed at silencing journalists and restricting public scrutiny of state officials in Somaliland.
There was another surge of mass arrests with at least 10 reporters being detained in three weeks. On 27th September 2025, police in Erigabo, Sanaag region, arrested and physically assaulted four reporters who questioned the Minister of Education, Ismail Yusuf Duale, about the closure of local schools. They were detained for seven hours and released without charge, while a fifth journalist escaped with injuries. The same day, police in Gabiley arrested journalist Mohamed Wadiin after he reported on the detention of clan elders who had criticised the government’s land seizure in Wajale. He remains in custody without an arrest warrant, in violation of Somaliland’s constitution.
Earlier in September, police in Burao detained KF Media TV journalist Abdiaziz Saleban Sulub for 18 days, allegedly on the orders of the Togdheer governor, over critical reporting. Although the court later acquitted him, he remained in custody pending appeal. On 11th September, three journalists were briefly detained in Borama after covering local criticism of the regional governor during President Abdirahman Irro’s visit. Separately, journalist Ahmed Mohamud Dool was imprisoned for 30 days in Hargeisa after publishing allegations of police involvement in murder cases. Despite initial optimism for reform under President Irro’s leadership, Somaliland’s civic space continues to shrink, with SJS documenting 24 journalist arrests and two media outlet bans in the past nine months, reflecting deepening intolerance of dissent and erosion of press freedom.
In separate developments, on 9th August 2025, the Maroodi Jeex Appeals Court issued a new suspension order against the independent media outlet Hadhwanaag News, directing the reinstatement of restrictions on its websites, hadhwanaagnews.co, hadhwanaagnews.ca, and hadhwanaagtv.com. The ruling also imposed a six-month prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 Somaliland Shillings (approximately $50) on each of the outlet’s exiled journalists and instructed local internet service providers to block access to the sites. The websites had previously been suspended in September 2019 following corruption exposés implicating former Central Bank Governor Ali Ibrahim Jama (Ali Baghdadi). They were reinstated in February 2025 after a court lifted the ban.