Wednesday, September 19, 2007
The call came after members of the government security forces raided the Radio Shabelle office in the capital, Mogadishu, Saturday morning and detained 19 staff members.
The security forces had accused the journalists of throwing a grenade at a police patrol, reported one of the detained staffers.
"The Somali government should be protecting journalists in the capital, not persecuting them," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement made available here Tuesday.
"Many Mogadishu-based journalists have been forced to flee the country due to the ongoing intimidation of journalists.
"We call on the government to stop this harassment and to move its forces away from the main gates of the Shabelle Media Network offices," Simon said.
CPJ quoted some of the staff members as saying security forces fired into a nearby hallway during a daily editorial meeting at the Shabelle office, forcing the journalists to take cover.
Source: Angola Press, Sept 19, 2007