Haatuf Reporter Jailed in Berbera

`Haatuf' newspaper reporter Ahmed Adan Dheere

Berbera, September 29, 2007 (SL Times) – The Sahil region `Haatuf' newspaper correspondent Ahmed Adan Dheere was arrested and taken from his house in Berbera on Thursday night by the local police and is being held in Berbera central police station.

The arrest of the Haatuf reporter took place without an arrest warrant or a court order issued for his detention in Berbera police station.

Awil Ali Sugule, a local-government Berbera councilor who spoke last night to the SL Times about the reporter’s arrest, said, "I was present with Ahmed Adan Dheere at his house when he was arrested around 9 p.m. There were at least half a dozen policemen who came to Ahmed's house and they asked Ahmed to accompany them to the central police station for questioning. Ahmed refused to go with them without an arrest warrant. The police said that they have been given orders to take him to the police station and took him away by force to the main central police station where he is currently being held".

While in police custody, Ahmed Aden managed to speak to the SL Times, and said, "As soon as I was taken to the police station, I was informed by the station staff that the order for my arrest came from the deputy police chief of Sahil region, Mr Ibrahim Bashe, and my arrest has to do with an article that was published last Monday in Haatuf newspaper (issue 1529).”

The Haatuf,Sahil region reporter told SL Times that this particular article was very critical of the vice-president and the central government's handling of the Berbera local-authority; however, it was not written by him [the reporter] but was written by Mr Awil Ali Sugule, a local authority councilor in Berbera".

Ahmed Aden added, "I’m being held in police custody for the publication of an article which I did not write but was written by Mr Sugule. I'm being held responsible for the publication of an article that was not written by me or published under my name.”

SL Times contacted the regional deputy police Chief Ibrahim Bashe over the phone and asked, `if he was responsible for the journalist's arrest?' The deputy chief refused to give an interview or comment.

Awil Ali Sugule, the local city-authority councilor stressed to SL Times that he wrote last Monday's article and bears full responsibility for its publication.

"The police know that they cannot arrest a local authority councilor without having a solid and lawful reason. So, what do they do? They pick on a soft target, a journalist. Had my article broken any laws, I should have been the one behind bars, not Ahmed, " the councilor explained.

Source: Somaliland Times