Hargeisa CID summons journalist for Facebook post

SOMALILAND.COM – The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today called for questioning a journalist who posted a leaked paper showing an unfair distribution of the Somaliland Development Fund. 

Hassan Suleiman Harun Galaydh, working for a local television station, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department earlier on Sunday. He was later released after questioning. He’s told to come back tomorrow for further questioning. 

Last week, Hassan Gallaydh posted on his Facebook page a graph allegedly showing an unfair distribution of the Somaliland Development Fund. 

The leaked paper showed that Togdheer, the second-most populous region in the country was allocated only five percent of the fund. Maroodijeh region had the lion’s share of the fund with 40 percent of resources allocated to her according to the paper.

The minister of National Planning, Hassan Gaafaadhi, refuted the accuracy of the paper saying it was too early to estimate each region’s allocation from the fund. 

Minister Gaafaadhi emphasized that the fund’s projects were a work in progress and not all finalized. He argued that even the secretariat of the Fund could not ascertain the allocation of regions at this moment. 

The C.I.D questioning of the journalist comes less than a month after the editor of his station was sentenced to one year in jail for a similar report. Following a record year for the arbitrary arrest of journalists, the government recently accused thirty unnamed journalists of working for the government of Somalia. 

This latest summon adds to the already worrisome atmosphere in which Somaliland journalists operate where the government is increasingly becoming less tolerant of independent media.