Case investigations, facility reports, and analysis published by OPR.
In ten weeks this summer, at least ten journalists were arrested, beaten, abducted, or imprisoned across six Somali cities — each for reporting on something those in power did not …
On June 25, 2026 — seventy-four days after her arrest — Sadiyo Bajaaj was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for posting a video criticizing the President. This is no…
In December 2018, Somali authorities held a public ceremony, declared Godka Jilacow closed, and promised to transform it into a training academy. The ceremony was attended by senio…
As the world marks Mental Health Awareness Month, thousands of people with mental health conditions in Somalia remain invisible, neglected, and trapped inside prisons where treatme…
In a restaurant in the heart of Mogadishu, three journalists sat down for a meal. They did not finish it.
Nine in ten journalists detained in Somalia are never brought to court and are released without charge. This is not a justice system struggling to function. It is a system delibera…
Enforced disappearance in Somalia has never been criminalized as a specific offence. No individual has ever been prosecuted for conducting, ordering, or concealing one. Impunity is…
During the Siad Barre era, torture was a method of governance. In 2026, while Somalia officially rejects torture, the persistence of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and intimid…
Over 48 hours in late May 2026, Somali security forces conducted a systematic sweep against journalism itself — arresting, interrogating, and threatening journalists not for what t…
Somali authorities have arrested bajaj drivers and activists protesting a near-200% fuel price hike. Among them: Sadiyo Bajaaj, a female activist and university graduate. She was h…
In Somalia’s fractured justice system, being from a minority community is itself a risk factor for wrongful arrest, coerced confession, and conviction. OPR’s field investigation do…
Somalia’s prison system remains one of the least examined yet most critical components of the country’s justice and security sector.
This investigation documents a machinery of repression operating in Somalia’s shadows: plainclothes operatives, unmarked vehicles, underground cells, and coerced silence. Based on …
As the world marks Mental Health Awareness Month, persons with disabilities in Somalia continue to face systematic marginalization, abuse, and neglect — inside their communities an…
The death of General Shegow Ahmed Ali in state custody has become a symbol of something larger than one case: a prison system where healthcare is absent, accountability is absent, …
Ali Adan Mumin was arrested without a warrant for reporting what happened: a factual account of Al-Shabaab capturing a district 86 kilometers from Mogadishu. Somalia’s constitution…
In 2024, Somali authorities did not merely arrest journalists — they arrested the body documenting the arrests. When the Somali Journalists Syndicate objected to legislation restri…
Arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, and abusive prison conditions remain among the most serious weaknesses in Somalia’s justice system. These issues demand urgent scrutiny, parti…
Inside Mogadishu Central Prison, a prisoner must pay for a small serving of rice, for ten minutes of fresh air, and 0 to receive a family visitor. A prisoner who cannot pay for wat…
This question carries major human rights, social, and policy implications. Until recently, it remained difficult to answer with any meaningful evidence. OPR’s direct interviews wit…
The COVID-19 pandemic did not create Somalia’s prison crisis. It revealed it. In detention facilities where physical distancing was impossible, medical care was absent, and hygiene…
The disappearance of Ikran Tahlil Farah on June 26, 2021, remains one of the most controversial and politically sensitive unresolved human rights cases in Somalia.