Judicial Harassment of Mohamed Bashir Hashi
On 8 December 2013, Mohamed Bashir Hashi was found guilty of 'defamation' and 'lying' by Banadir regional court, Mogadishu. He received a six-month suspended sentence and was released the following day after paying a fine. The survivor of sexual violence that he was interviewing was also also arrested and also given a six-month suspended sentence for defamation and lying.
On 21 November 2013, Somali security services arrested and detained human rights defender and journalist Mr Mohamed Bashir Hashi, in connection with his work with a 19 year-old survivor of sexual violence. Both he and the victim, whom he had interviewed for a radio programme, remain in detention.
Mohamed Bashir Hashi is is a radio journalist working for Radio Shabelle, one of Somali's most well-known independent radio stations. He serves as the head of the Mogadishu branch of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
UPDATE: On 8 December 2013, Mohamed Bashir Hashi was found guilty of 'defamation' and 'lying' by Banadir regional court, Mogadishu. He received a six-month suspended sentence and was released the following day after paying a fine. The survivor of sexual violence that he was interviewing was also also arrested and also given a six-month suspended sentence for defamation and lying.
On 21 November 2013, Somali security services arrested and detained human rights defender and journalist Mr Mohamed Bashir Hashi, in connection with his work with a 19 year-old survivor of sexual violence. Both he and the survivor, whom he had interviewed for a radio programme, remain in detention.
Mohamed Bashir Hashi is a radio journalist working for Radio Shabelle, one of Somali's most well-known independent radio stations. He serves as the head of the Mogadishu branch of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
On 18 November 2013, Radio Shabelle aired a programme in which Mohamed Bashir Hashi interviewed a victim of sexual violence. In the interview, the woman described how two men raped her at gunpoint. She pleaded for the Somalian government to undertake legal action against the two suspects. Mohamed Bashir Hashi later posted a video of the interview on the Radio Shabelle website.
Acting on a complaint reportedly filed by one of the suspects, the police arrested both Mohamed Bashir Hashi and the woman he had interviewed. The police accused them of fabricating the assault story. The manager of Radio Shabelle, Mr Abdimalik Yusuf was also arrested around the same time, but was released shortly thereafter.
Front Line Defenders is greatly concerned by the pattern of judicial harassment of journalists in Somalia. In early February 2013, Front Line Defenders issued an Urgent Appeal about the arrest of another human rights defender and journalist, Mr Abdiasis Abdinur Ibrahim (also known as Koronto), who was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of fabricating a news story with the intent to insult a state institution. He had been investigating the case of a woman who claimed to have been raped by state security forces. The charges were eventually dropped following a Supreme Court decision ordering his immediate release.
