Saturday, April 18, 2009
Muhidin Hassan Mohamed, a correspondent in Baidoa for the private Shabele radio station, was seized late Thursday by men of the Shebab militia which controls the town, they said.
Hours earlier he had reported that Shebab fighters were extorting money from local people at roadblocks around Baidoa, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital.
"We tried to visit him this morning in the jail but Shebab forces refused that," a colleague who asked not to be named for his safety told AFP.
"They told us that the journalist broadcast reports on instability and checkpoints by militias in the region and that they will try him."
Muktar Mohamed Hirabe, director of Radio Shabele, confirmed the arrest of the reporter early Saturday but could not immediately give details.
Somalia, which has been wracked by clan fighting since 1991, is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, who have been routinely arrested by the authorities or kidnapped and killed by various armed groups.
The Shebab last week ordered the closure of the only independent radio in the country's southern border regions, its director said.
In February gunmen shot dead the director of a top independent radio station, Horn Afrik, in the Somali capital.
Source: AFP, April 18, 2009