Monday February 19, 2024
Security forces in Somalia’s north-eastern Puntland region on Sunday arrested Jamal Osman, a reporter for British broadcaster Channel 4, on charges of spreading al-Shabab propaganda, private news site Puntland Post reported.
Mr Osman, who won a Rory Peck award in 2022 for a feature on al-Shabab, was detained shortly after he arrived in regional capital Garowe, the website said.
“Security sources have confirmed that journalist Jamal was taken [from the airport] to Garowe town, where officials from the Puntland intelligence agency were questioning him,” it added.
Channel 4 and Puntland authorities have not commented on the reports.
Sources have indicated to the BBC that Mr Osman will be deported later on Monday.
Osman was briefly detained in Mogadishu in 2022 shortly after landing at the city’s airport from an undisclosed location.
He has reported for Channel 4 on al-Shabab, piracy in the Horn of Africa and Somalia’s long-running instability since 2008.
His “Inside al-Shabab” report, which aired on Channel 4 in 2022, led to the Somali government accusing him of promoting al-Shabab’s ideologies.
Mr Osman reported for the BBC in 2019, following a deadly al-Shabab attack on a hotel in southern Somalia.