MOGADISHU (Kaab TV) – Wanla-Weyn police in the Lower Shabelle region arrested journalist Ismail Khalif Ahmed on Friday, 30 May, following a report by the privately-owned Radio Wanlaweyn FM that exposed illegal payment demands by the district administration.
According to the report, the Wanla-Weyn district administration had demanded forced payments from the local community “under the pretext of constructing Wanla-Weyn Hospital.” However, residents refused to pay, citing a lack of trust in the local administration.
In response to the broadcast, armed officers from the Darwish police—a unit trained by the European Union for South West State—raided the radio station on Friday night and arrested Ismail Khalif Ahmed, who is both the station’s director and founder.
He was released the following day, Saturday, 31 May.
Journalists at Radio Wanlaweyn FM told Kaab TV they were forced to delete the report and issue a public apology as a condition for Ismail’s release.
This incident is the latest in a string of attacks and repression targeting journalists in the region.
In March, gunmen linked to the Banadir Police Commissioner, Moalim Mahdi, abducted Ibrahim Mohamed Mayow, a journalist based in Afgoye. He was found a week later in Mogadishu after being released by his captors onto the street at midnight.
In February, a government-affiliated clan militia in Lower Shabelle kidnapped journalist Omar Yusuf Mohamed (also known as Omar Guux), who reports for Nabad Somali TV, a Facebook-based news outlet. Omar had been covering local complaints about militia raids and arbitrary detentions in and around the KM50 area.
The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) reported that Omar was held in an abandoned makeshift shelter in KM50 and was later released the same day.
Southwest State authorities have not commented on any of these incidents.