Wednesday September 9, 2026
Hargeisa (HOL) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the release of Somali journalist Abdiqani Hussein Abokor Baylood, who has been held without charge since Aug. 29 in Somaliland after interviewing a poet.
CPJ said Abdiqani was detained after publishing a video interview with Ismail Yusuf Abdi, also known as Jiheeye, a well-known poet who criticized Somaliland authorities over an alleged illegal land seizure.
On August 27, Abdiqani published a video interview with Ismail Yusuf Abdi Jiheeye, a well-known local poet, who recited a poem warning Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi that he would be cursed if he did not intervene in authorities’ illegal seizure of two plots of land belonging to the poet.
Ismail was arrested the following day by security forces in Hargeisa.
Abdiqani was detained on Aug. 29 after responding to a summons to the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters, according to his lawyer, Tawakal Ibrahim Mohamed, and the local press rights group Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA).
Abdiqani, who publishes news on his Facebook page, briefly appeared before Hargeisa’s Maroodi Jeex Regional Court the same day and was remanded for seven days pending investigation.
He was due to return to court Saturday but did not appear, his lawyer said.
Tawakal said he had been told informally by a CID officer that the police intend to bring two charges against his client: offending the honour or prestige of the president, which carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment, and the dissemination of anti-state propaganda, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment under the penal code.
CPJ said it did not receive responses to emailed requests for comment sent to the Somaliland presidency and information ministry, or to a message sent to the police commission.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not received broad international recognition.
Press freedom groups have accused Somaliland authorities of increasing arrests and pressure on journalists and media workers over the past year.
