A Somali court on Monday sentenced a freelance journalist to two months in prison on charges of threatening national security, according to a media association, a case criticized by human rights activists and media advocacy groups.
A Somali court on Monday sentenced a freelance journalist to two months in prison on charges of threatening national security, according to a press association, a case criticized by human rights activists and media advocacy groups.
The conviction of Abdalle Ahmed Mumin is “an obvious travesty of justice,” the president of the Somali Journalists Union (SJS) denounced on Twitter, promising to appeal the decision against the journalist who is also the secretary general of his organization.
Prior to the sentencing, human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute, had called for the prosecution to be dropped, saying that Mumin was facing continued threats and persecution from Somali authorities for defending the right to freedom of expression.
The prosecutions contribute “significantly to the closure of civic space in the country,” they said in a joint letter to Somalia’s attorney general in December.
Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October, shortly after a government decision to step up a crackdown on media outlets that authorities say are involved in propaganda for the radical Islamist Shebab.