SOMALI JOURNALIST FREED AFTER 20 DAYS IN PRISON

By Said Ibrahim( Bunna)& NUSOJ
Mogadishu
April 15, 2009

MOGADISHU— The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) today welcomes with joy the release of Journalist Jama Ayanle Feyte from Bossasso jail after Puntland President pardoned.
Bossasso Court convicted Jama Ayanle Feyte was for libel and insult of Puntland leaders and dissemination of false information on the Somali news websites. The court handed him down two-year prison sentence.

Jama Ayanle, who works for the news website www.laasqoray.net, was arrested by Puntland police in Bossasso on 26 March on the orders of the deputy police commissioner, Mohamed Said Jaqanaf. The deputy police commissioner informed the journalist on his arrest that he was being charged with publishing false information, but did not specify what the alleged false information was.

On a separate case, journalist Ahmed Abdi Farah of Radio Galkayo died in car accident on Tuesday, 14 April, 10 km south of Garowe town, capital of Puntland Regional State. The journalist, who was driving on a rough road, was testing his sedan while the accident was taking place. One other person in the sedan died in the accident and 2 people were wounded.

“We are very pleased to know the release of our colleague Jama Ayanle Feyte after 20 days of imprisonment” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “We always believed and insisted that he was innocent and he did not get fair trial and the verdict was politicized”.

Ahmed Abdi Farah is the third journalist that dies in this year in Somalia.

Hassan Mayow and Said Tahlil were assassinated in Afgoye and Mogadishu respectively.

“The death of Ahmed Abdi Farah is an other tragedy struck Somali journalists.

While we mourn his untimely death, we express our heartfelt condolences to the family, colleagues and friends of Ahmed Abdi Farah” Omar Faruk declared.


Source: NUSOJ