ASOJ condemns Jailing and shutting of Radio Simba

The Associated Somali Journalists ASOJ is deeply criticized by Somali government forces attack on private radio station Freedom FM known as SIMBA radio and deeply concerned at the jailing of two journalists.

ASOJ Chairman Dahir C/dulle Alasow. Said “There is evidence that a crime has been committed and the government has an obligation to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation, particularly in light of the official harassment of Freedom FM," .

ASOJ chairman Dahir Alsow also said “We condemn the government’s intimidation of SIMBA radio, a pioneering independent journalists,”,

“We believe authorities are using this emotional charge to mask their true motives, to punish a critical journalist.”said Asoj spokesman Sunni Said

Radio Simba one of the popular station FM based in the capital, Mogdishu, and this is the first times, police forced the station off the air.

The forces ordered Mogadishu-based Simba Radio off the air and arrested its chief Abdullahi Ali Farak and a journalist, according to a reporter who works there.

The government forces came this morning, and  entered the radio station and arrested the boss and a journalist,.

The radio on Wednesday evening interviewed Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a radical Islamist leader, who said he was behind a suicide attack earlier in the day on an Ethiopian army base near a hotel Bakin where Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was staying.

Sheikh Mukhtar - also known as Abu Mansur  presented himself in the interview as a spokesman for the Somali Islamist movement in Mogadishu, but he has commanded numerous other militia fighters over the past decade.

The Associated Somali Journalists ASOJ urges head of state and government  the need to defend press freedom.

These events should be of concern to you as they undermine the important work of the Somali government in building democratic values.

Sunni Said Salah ASOJ Spokesman

sunninet@hotmail.com

sunni@asoj.org

+254-722424230