“The Only Option Left Is Death”

Inside Somalia’s War on Its Own Press

In a restaurant in the heart of Mogadishu, three journalists sat down for a meal. They did not finish it.

On the evening of 8 May, Mohamed Bulbul, Abdihafid Nor Barre and Abdishakur Mohamed Mohamud were surrounded by members of Somalia’s counter-terrorism police unit. What followed, they say, was not an arrest so much as an assault — beaten with pistols before being hauled away for questioning. By the time they were released in the early hours of Saturday morning, one thing had been made unmistakably clear: in Somalia today, asking difficult questions can get you killed.

The warning did not come in a dark alley or an anonymous message. It came from the police chief himself.

A Story That Could Not Be Silenced

The trouble began, as it so often does, with a woman who refused to stay quiet.

Sadia Moalim Ali is 27 years old. A rickshaw driver from Mogadishu, she was imprisoned for peaceful protest and for speaking her mind on social media. Inside Mogadishu central prison, she says, the punishment continued. Two male guards stripped her naked in a room watched by CCTV cameras. She was kicked, beaten with a baton and thrown into a small cell, where she spent two days without food.

When Bulbul published her account last Thursday, it spread rapidly — shared and reshared across Somali media, Facebook and X, reaching an audience the authorities could not contain. It was exactly the kind of story that governments prefer to bury. And so, it appears, they tried to bury the journalist instead.

“Tired of Arresting Journalists”

At police headquarters, the three reporters came face to face with Mahdi Omar Mumin, Mogadishu’s police chief. According to a statement released by the Somali Journalists Syndicate, Mumin told them he was “tired of arresting journalists.” The implication was not that he intended to stop. If they continued reporting on the protests sweeping the city, or on cases like Ali’s, he said, the only option remaining for them would be “death.”

Bulbul had not stumbled into this story by accident. He had been covering security forces’ abuses and the forced evictions displacing communities across Mogadishu for months. He and his colleagues had faced weeks of sustained threats and intimidation before their arrest. None of it had stopped them. The authorities appear to have decided that escalation was the answer.

A Country on the Edge

The detentions did not happen in a vacuum. Somalia is approaching a moment of acute political tension. The presidential term is due to expire on 15 May, and rather than easing into a transition, the government appears to be tightening its grip. Public anger is rising — over land grabbing, forced displacement and a leadership seen as increasingly detached from the people it governs.

Protests were planned for Sunday. It is no coincidence that journalists were being silenced on Friday night.

Abdirahman Abdishakur, an MP and leader of the opposition Wadajir party, was unsparing in his assessment. Somalia’s administration, he wrote on X, “appears consumed by fear and confusion as the end of its mandate approaches.” Instead of seeking dialogue or addressing public grievances, he said, it had “intensified repression against journalists, activists and outspoken young people.”

The arrests of Bulbul, Barre and Mohamud were not the beginning of this crackdown. Two days earlier, on 6 May, at least five other journalists were arrested and had their equipment seized. Two more — broadcast journalist Ja’far Mohamed Jim’ale and his cameraman Nur Hasan Ali — remain in detention. Their whereabouts are unknown.

“A Deliberate Attempt to Terrorise”

Somali Stream, the outlet that employs Mohamud, called the arrests exactly what they were. “This is a deliberate attempt to terrorise journalists, suppress independent reporting and instil fear across Somalia’s media community,” said managing director AbdiKani Hamud Abokor. The arrests, he said, were illegal and politically motivated.

Few who follow Somalia’s media landscape would be surprised. According to the World Press Freedom Index, the country ranks 126th out of 180 nations. Reporters Without Borders describes it as one of the most dangerous places in Africa to practise journalism — a distinction earned through decades of violence, impunity and institutional indifference to the safety of those who report the news.

What is perhaps most chilling about the events of 8 May is not the beatings, or even the arrests. It is the openness of it all — a police chief threatening death not in a whisper but in what amounted to an official warning. A government so confident in its own impunity that it no longer feels the need to pretend.

Released, But Not Silenced

Sadia Moalim Ali remains in prison. Ja’far Mohamed Jim’ale and Nur Hasan Ali remain missing. The protests went ahead on Sunday. And Mohamed Bulbul, released but not silenced, continues to report.

Somalia’s authorities have been approached for comment. They have not yet responded.

The question now is whether anyone beyond Somalia’s borders is paying attention — and whether, this time, attention will be enough.