Laascaanood police must free journalist Abdiqani Abdirahman arrested after publishing an interview on possible troop deployment to Baydhabo

Laascaanood police must free journalist Abdiqani Abdirahman arrested after publishing an interview on possible troop deployment to Baydhabo

MOGADISHU, Somalia 27 March 2026– The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) calls on the northeastern authorities in Laascaanood to release local journalist Abdiqani Abdirahman Mohamed, who was arrested on Thursday after publishing an interview with a former state presidential adviser who commented on the conflict in Southwest State of Somalia.

On Thursday, 26 March, police officers in Laascaanood arrested Abdiqani Abdirahman Mohamed, who reports for Dhulmar Media, an online news channel covering the northeastern regions. Local journalists told SJS that his arrest followed the publicationof an interviewwith a former adviser to the northeastern state leader, who warned that "the Somali Federal Government is pushing clan militias and forces in Laascaanood to be deployed to Southwest State”, where federal government forces and Southwest State authorities are mobilising against each other amid rising tensions over elections, risking internal conflict.

The official, Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame, stated that federal government officials are seeking to recruit forces from Laascaanood to be sent to fight in Baydhabo, the seat of Southwest State. He added that the "federal government does not have the right to use local forces to engage in an internal conflict” in Southwest State.

Laascaanood police said on Thursday that they had alsoarrestedMr. Warsame, accusing him of "fabrication, insults, and defamation against the armed forces.”

When SJS contacted the police in Laascaanood regarding the journalist’s arrest, they referred toa Facebook postannouncing the arrest of Mr. Warsame and referencing his interview.

The northeastern state is a newly established administration heavily backed by the Federal Government of Somalia in Mogadishu. Officials and journalists in Laascaanood told SJS that Mr. Warsame, who had been an adviser and a close relative of the regional leader, Abdulkadir Ahmed Awl-Ali, had resigned from his position earlier following an internal dispute with the regional president.

SJS condemns the unlawful arrest of Abdiqani Abdirahman Mohamed and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

"The arrest of journalists for conducting an interview which is actually doing their job is a blatant act of repression. We condemn this intimidation in the strongest terms and demand the immediate and unconditional release of Abdiqani Abdirahman Mohamed,” said SJS Secretary General, Abdalle Mumin.

"Laascaanood authorities must end their campaign against independent media and uphold fundamental freedoms,” adds Mr. Mumin.