Silenced Signals: Fifteen Journalists Arrested as Mogadishu Tightens the Noose on Reporting

In 48 hours, NISA and Somali police detained at least fifteen journalists across Mogadishu and Galkayo for covering protests, opposition politics, and public demonstrations — then forced them to delete their footage as the price of release

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 they had published, but for what they were about to. The method was consistent across every case: detain, delete, warn, release. The message was the same in every city: stop.

Arrest, Delete, Release: A Method Applied Across Five Days

Journalists in Mogadishu and other regions of Somalia face significant risks from both the Somali government and Al-Shabaab. Over 48 hours this May, officers from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and the police arbitrarily detained at least fifteen journalists, confiscated equipment, and obstructed media workers reporting on public opinion and political developments in the capital. In South Galkayo, Galmudug State police arrested a journalist at his home after he published a report about extortion at a roadblock.

The cases documented here span five days and two cities. In every instance, the operating logic was identical: journalists were not arrested for breaking the law, but for doing their jobs. They were not charged with any offense. They were interrogated, threatened, forced to delete recorded material, and released on the condition that they would not publish. That condition — compliance extracted through arrest — is the real crime being committed. Not by the journalists.

On Thursday, May 22, Somali police in Mogadishu arrested three journalists: Abdullahi Yusuf Hassan and Mohamed Hassan Geedi of RNN TV, and Yahye Mohamud Hersi of Himilo Somali TV. Two of the journalists told the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) that after their arrest they were handed over to NISA officers and transferred to the Hodan District Administration office, where they were detained. Anisa Abdiaziz Hussein, a reporter for Himilo Somali TV who was present, said she fled on foot after witnessing armed men attack the journalists.

The group had been covering a protest by local women meat sellers at Zoobe Junction who were demonstrating against the demolition of their makeshift market stalls. According to the journalists, NISA officers confiscated their equipment and deleted their recorded footage. An editor at Himilo Somali TV reported receiving a threatening phone call from a NISA officer warning against broadcasting any material related to the women’s protest or the demolitions. All three journalists were released later that afternoon — on the condition that they refrain from publishing content about the protest. That condition, extracted through arrest and deletion of their work, was the only outcome the security forces sought.

On Friday night, May 23, police officers from Galmudug State in South Galkayo arrested online reporter Ali Maalin Nuur after he published a Facebook report about truck drivers and their vehicles detained at a roadblock outside Galkayo, Mudug region. In the now-deleted video, the journalist said armed men at the roadblock — identified as Galmudug security forces — demanded additional payments from truck drivers, leaving the trucks stranded for several days. Armed police later raided the journalist’s residence and arrested him there.

Ali Maalin Nuur said his arrest was ordered by the Governor of Mudug in Galmudug. He was detained overnight at the South Galkayo police station, and his name was not recorded in the occurrence book — making the detention effectively invisible to any formal oversight. He was released Saturday afternoon after officers compelled him to delete the video from his Facebook page. He was not taken to court. He said he believed he would not have received justice, as police threatened to keep him in custody if he refused to delete the report. A senior official from the Galmudug State Ministry of Information later described the arrest as illegal — a concession that raises the question of why no accountability followed.

On Friday, May 23, political opposition figures led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former Prime Ministers Hassan Ali Khaire and Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, and members of parliament convened at a mosque in Mogadishu and delivered a public speech condemning President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s actions regarding the 2026 election and calling for a return to constitutional order. The speech was widely broadcast. The next day, journalists attempting to collect public opinion about it discovered that covering its aftermath had also become dangerous.

On Saturday, May 24, NISA agents detained four journalists — Abdinasir Abduqadir Salah and Abdinasir Sayid Ali of Shabelle TV, and Abdirahman Abdulle Rooble and Hassan Ahmed Takow of SYL TV — near Waberi Police Station. The journalists were collecting vox-pop interviews from the public on Maka Al-Mukarama Street, seeking opinions on the opposition coalition event held the previous day. They were interrogated, threatened, and ordered to delete their footage. Two of the journalists reported being explicitly threatened with violence if they continued to report critically on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. All four were released without being officially booked or charged.

Also on Saturday, May 24, NISA agents in Mogadishu arrested seven journalists who were collecting public opinion on the country’s political situation. Ismail Yabarow Hassan and Mohamed Adan Hassan of Somali Cable TV, four journalists from Goobjoog Media (Ja’far Abdirisak Mohamed, Shukri Hashi, Ayanle Abdinur, and Sundus Ali Botan), and cameraman Abdirahman Ahmed Hassan of Five Somali TV were stopped by NISA officers and told they were “not allowed to conduct public opinion on the streets.” All seven had their equipment confiscated and their recorded material deleted. They were warned not to conduct further interviews with the public and returned to their outlets without completing their assignments.

Separately on the same day, Anisa Ahmed Mohamed and Masud Abdirahman Yusuf of Dalbile Online TV were conducting interviews when plain-clothed, armed NISA officers interrupted them on Maka Al-Mukarama Street. After the journalists moved to a different location, the officers followed them and again disrupted their work. Media organizations have since reported that independent street reporting has been effectively banned in areas surrounding Maka Al-Mukarama and KM4.

“These attacks on media workers are unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms. These violations will not end until the perpetrators are held accountable.”Abdalle Mumin, Secretary General, Somali Journalists Syndicate — May 24, 2026

The Method Is the Message

What these fifteen cases share is not a legal basis — in none of them were charges filed, a judge consulted, or any legal process followed. What they share is a method: detain long enough to obtain deletion of the material, extract a promise not to publish, and release. The arrest is not the punishment. The erasure is. And the erasure is not of individual stories. It is of the public’s right to know what is happening in their own city.

When NISA tells journalists they are “not allowed to conduct public opinion on the streets,” it is not enforcing a law. It is asserting an authority the law does not grant it: the authority to decide what the public is permitted to think about, and what journalists are permitted to ask. When Galmudug’s Governor orders the arrest of a journalist for reporting on soldiers robbing truck drivers, he is not protecting security. He is protecting himself. The fifteen cases documented here are not fifteen separate incidents. They are one sustained decision, made across administrations and agencies: that journalism in Somalia is tolerated only when it confirms what power wants said.

Deleting a journalist’s footage does not delete what happened. It only deletes the record. That is why it must be resisted — and why OPR will continue to document every attempt to make Somalia’s story disappear.