In today’s court hearing, the prosecutor presented amended charges based on Articles 328 (publication or circulation of false, exaggerated or tendencious news); and 269 (insult to a political, administrative or judicial body) of the Somali Penal Code.  The defending lawyers, however, refused the new charges and requested the court to dismiss the case. The presiding judge, Mohamud Yasin then closed the hearing and announced that the court will determine its verdict in unspecified date.

“Today our client, journalist Abdiaziz Gurbiye appeared before the court. The prosecutor brought new charges of the Penal Code to be used against Gurbiye. We have noted to the court that journalism is not a crime and therefore, we have requested the court to dismiss the case and free our client Gurbiye,” said the lead lawyer of the defense team, Dahir Mohamed Ali in a joint press conference attended by SJS and SOMA leaders.

SJS and SOMA expressed their concern about the continued intimidation by Somali president’s office meant to harass and confuse the process of the case. Gurbiye was first arrested and charged with Article 220 of the Penal Code on 14 April a day after he wrote a Facebook post alleging, “the Somali president had taken away a donated ventilator” from a local hospital which treats Covid-19 patients. He was released on bail on 18 April. But the Attorney General changed the charges, according to a document seen by SJS and SOMA.

We jointly call for the court to dismiss this politically motivated case against Gurbiye. SJS and SOMA are also worried and demand a full investigation into the hacking of Gurbiye’s Facebook page which took place on Monday 20 July, the same day the court adjourned the second hearing of Gurbiye’s case.

“Today once again we were at the court to hear the case against our colleague journalist Abdiaziz Gurbiye.  He was initially charged with Article 220, but unfortunately today, the Attorney General’s office brought altered the charges. This indicates how the case against Gurbiye is a politically motivated one,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said “Journalism is not a crime and we hope that the judge will understand and release the journalist.”

“The charges against Gurbiye are all baseless and the court should look into that. Authorities at the Villa Somalia should also stop weaponising the Attorney General against the free press particularly in the case against Gurbiye,” Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi, the Secretary General of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said.

SJS and SOMA will continue to stand in solidarity with Goobjoog Media Group and Abdiaziz Gurbiye as we applaud our lawyers who are defending Gurbiye before the courts of law.

The Banadir Regional Court today said it has a jurisdiction to hear the case while declining the preliminary objections mounted by the defense lawyers last week. The Court further asked the Office of the Attorney General (AG) for clarity on the charges against Gurbiye and to declare who were the victims of this case before adjourning the hearing.

We, SJS and SOMA, jointly reiterate that journalist Gurbiye should not be persecuted for doing his job as a journalist. Somali federal authorities should stop muzzling free press and intimidations against journalists.

“Today we have attended the court hearing of the case against Abdiaziz Gurbiye. The court demanded the Attorney General to name who is accusing Gurbiye and I think that is enough to say that this case is baseless. We call for the AG to drop these baseless charges against Gurbiye,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the secretary general of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said.

Gurbiye was first arrested and charged with Article 220 of the Penal Code on 14 April a day after he wrote a Facebook post alleging, “the Somali president had taken away a donated ventilator” from a local hospital which treats Covid-19 patients. He was released on bail on 18 April. But the Attorney General changed the charges, according to a document seen by SJS and SOMA.

“It is very concerning that this case is taking long. Somali federal authorities must not misuse the judiciary. We reject any accusations against journalist Gurbiye,” Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi, the secretary general of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said.

SJS and SOMA secured lawyers to defend Gurbiye before the court of law as the first hearing of the case took place today on 7 July, where representatives from SJS, SOMA, Goobjoog Media Group and journalists attended.  The court was adjourned after the defending lawyers opposed the criminal charges brought by the Attorney General’s office and also questioned the court’s jurisdiction to handle, as there were no victims to be mentioned in the case.

SJS and SOMA secured lawyers to defend Mr. Gurbiye before the court of law as the first hearing of the case took place today on 7 July, where representatives from SJS, SOMA, Goobjoog Media Group and journalists attended.  The court was adjourned after the defending lawyers opposed the criminal charges brought by the Attorney General’s office and also questioned the court’s jurisdiction to handle, as there were no victims to be mentioned in the case.

Mr. Gurbiye was first arrested and charged with Article 220 of the Penal Code on 14 April a day after he wrote a Facebook post alleging, “the Somali president had taken away a donated ventilator” from a local hospital which treats Covid-19 patients. He was released on bail on 18 April. But the Attorney General changed the charges, according to a document seen by SJS and SOMA.

In the new charge sheet dated on 23 June, the court summoned Mr. Gurbiye on articles of 328; publishing false news and 269; offending the prestige of public and political administration. These vague offenses are found in the outdated Somali Penal Code to restrict the freedom of speech and the media.

“We opposed the criminalisation of journalism because our client, Mr. Gurbiye has been exercising journalism which is not a crime and the criminal code can not be used for cases related to journalism,” Dahir Mohamed Ali, the lead lawyer of the defence team said “We have also challenged the court’s jurisdiction and the validity of the charges as we have not been informed who is pressing the charges against our client.”

During a press conference at the courthouse, SJS Secretary General, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, SOMA Secretary General, Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi reinforced the defense lawyers’ argument and also called the Federal Government’s Attorney General to stop the charges against Mr. Gurbiye.  Both Mumin and Abdullahi also expressed their concern the several changes made in the previous charge sheet when the journalist was first arrested in April.

“While we emphasise the defence lawyers’ point of argument, we are, however, extremely concerned by the fact that the articles mentioned in the previous charge sheet in April were changed. We also condemn the attempts of intimidations and threats involving in this case,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of SJS said.

“We strongly oppose any criminal charges against journalist Gurbiye and therefore we call for the Attorney General to immediately drop these charges against Gurbiye and stop the judicial harassment aimed to intimidate and silence the independent media and the journalists,” Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi, the Secretary General of SOMA said.

The Director of Goobjoog Media, Hassan Mohamed Mohamud thanked SJS and SOMA for the legal defence support and solidarity to their journalist Gurbiye amid in this critical time of Covid-19.

“I thank SJS and SOMA for the outstanding support- not only the legal defence support but also their solidarity and commitment to defend the endangered journalists such as Gurbiye,” the Director of Goobjoog Media, Hassan Mohamed Mohamud said.

On Sunday 05 July, armed police attacked and blocked journalists from the independent media houses: Universal TV, Radio Kulmiye, Radio Risaala and Dalsan TV, as they were covering an opposition protest at Daljirka area in Mogadishu. The police confiscated equipment from Universal TV journalists and even threatened with shooting. The equipment was later returned, according to Universal TV’s editor.

On Saturday, police officer slapped journalist Fu’ad Mohamud Mohamed of Radio Risaala forcing him to stop filming on the scene of a car bombing in Hamar Jajab District in Mogadishu. 

Last week, the Banadir Regional Court issued an order summoning Goobjoog Media journalist, Abdiaziz Ahmed Gurbiye to appear before the Court on Tuesday next week. Gurbiye was arrested on 14 April and was released on bail after he wrote an article alleging that Somali president took a donated ventilator from Covid-19 hospital in Mogadishu.   We call for Somali Attorney General and Somali President’s Office to drop their charges against Gurbiye.

Meanwhile SJS and SOMA are extremely concerned by the continued arbitrary detention of Radio Hiigsi’s editor, Mohamed Abduwahab Nuur (Abuuja) who remains imprisoned since March 7 without charges due to his article deemed critical to the security forces.

We jointly call the Somali Federal Government to allow Radio Gedo to resume its operations following its closure by officers from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) on 28 June and establish an independent and honest investigation into shooting against Radio Danan journalist, Abdifatah Abduqadir Sharif who was shot and injured by a police officer on 25 June.

We also jointly condemn the recent crackdown on the independent media in Somaliland and call for authorities in Somaliland to allow Universal TV and Star TV to resume their operations without any condition.

Gurbiye was arrested on 14 April 2020 a day after he wrote on his Facebook that “Somali president had taken away a donated ventilator” from a local hospital amid Covid-19 pandemic. He was charged with article 220 of the Somali Penal Code which states “offending the honour or prestige of the head of the state”.  Following his release, Mr. Gurbiye has been banned from writing about Covid-19 and any thing critical on the government making him impossible to practice his profession under the bail.

“It is now almost two months and journalist Abdiaziz Gurbiye is not able to exercise his journalism,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said “We call for the Office of Somali President and the Office of the Attorney General to drop their charges against Mr. Gurbiye and allow him to resume his journalism work without fear of persecution.”

In the aftermath of journalist Gurbiye’s arrest and following series of attacks and threats against journalists for covering Covid-19, independent journalists and media houses in Somalia are unwilling to cover Covid-19 or have resorted to self-censorship for fear of arrest or persecution.

“On May 3, Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo stated that journalists should not be used in the future with the outdated Somali penal code. With that being officially said by the president, Goobjoog journalist Gurbiye remains to be a victim of such outdated law and is charged with the Penal Code on behalf of the Somali president,” Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi, the Secretary General of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said.

SOMA and SJS jointly call for the Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to instruct the Attorney General to withdraw the charges against Gurbiye in the respect to the president’s statement issued on May 3.

Separately SOMA and SJS welcomed the release of the privately owned independent SAAB TV journalist Ali Fahad Jama, who was detained after reporting a road accident involving a police vehicle in Hargeisa on Monday 08 June.  According to Ali Fahad who spoke to SJS today he was released on the morning of Tuesday 09 June after spending one night in the police detention. He was not charged.

Meanwhile Radio Hiigsi editor, Mohamed Abduwahaab Nuur (Abuuja) had on Sunday 07 June appeared before the military tribunal and was transferred to Mogadishu central prison after the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) held him incommunicado for three months.  The journalist is yet to be charged but SOMA and SJS have hired two lawyers to defend him before the court of the law once his case is brought to the court.

According to Goobjoog Media Group’s director, Hassan Mohamed Mohamud who spoke to SJS, the Banadir Regional Court on Saturday granted an application seeking the journalist is released from prison on bail, due to his health condition. The journalist’s family and Goobjoog Media Group filed the bail request on Thursday 16 April.

Abdirahman Mohamed, journalist Gurbiye’s cousin, who confirmed Gurbiye’s freedom, has told SJS that he signed for the bail release to act as a surety that the journalist will appear in the court once required.  There is no date set for the hearing of the case.

Abdiaziz Gurbiye was arrested on Tuesday 14 April a day after he allegedly wrote a Facebook post claiming that “the president had taken away a ventilator” donated to a local hospital which treats Covid-19 patients. He was transferred to the central prison on Wednesday 15 April. He was not officially charged.

“While we welcome the release of Goobjoog Media deputy director, Abdiaziz Ahmed Gurbiye on bail, we demand from the Somali authorities to halt its accusations against him. Somali government should cease using criminal laws to censor freedom of the press and intimidate journalists who scrutinise public officials,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said.

SJS is concerned by the continued incommunicado detention of Radio Hiigsi editor, Mohamed Abduwahaab Nuur (also known as Abuuja) who was jailed on 7 March, 2020 after he wrote an article which questioned the ethical behavior of Somali security forces. Mohamed is in detention for 42 days without access to a lawyer and his family. Family members told SJS that they don’t even know where he is being held.

“We strongly condemn the continued, unlawful detention of Hiigsi Radio editor, Mohamed Abduwahaab Nuur who is held incommunicado since March 7 for only writing about the behavior of the security forces.  His family has just told us that they don’t know where he’s being held. We call for Somali Federal Government to free him immediately and unconditionally.”