Journos in Mogadishu to protest beating of colleagues by security forces

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Journalists in Mogadishu are today taking into the streets in Mogadishu following the brutal harassment and beating of their colleagues by the Turkish trained Haram’ad paramilitary unit Mogadishu last week.

The journalists are set to assemble at Sahafi Hotel at the Central Business District where they will commence their demos. The demonstration follows the attack on the journalists by Haram’ad forces led by their deputy commander Abdiweli Fanah in Kahda district in Mogadishu on February 16.

The five journalists from Five Somali TV and Somali Cable were roughed up by the forces as they were covering the aftermath of the series of Al-Shabaab attacks in four districts among them Kahda on the wee hours of February 16.

Pictures from the scene showed the journalists blindfolded and hand and legs tied lying on the ground. The journalists who spoke to Goobjoog News said they were kept in the hot sun while tied up for two hours. The security forces took away some of their equipment and have not returned to date.

“All the soldiers, including the commander, tortured us. At noon, in the scorching sun, we lay for two hours in the sand,” Aweys Mohamud of Five Somali Tv said. The journalists said they went to cover the attack at Kahda police station and after a while, two pick-up trucks arrived and the security forces attacked them.

So far, the authorities in Mogadishu have not spoken about the matter and no action has been taken against the culprits.