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June 14, 2025 – Somalia –
At around 9 a.m., armed agents from Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) raided the offices of Himilo Somali TV, an independent online broadcaster in Mogadishu. Fourteen officers—eight inside the studio and six outside—demanded that the outlet remove an interview addressing alleged forced voter registration by the controversial Federal Electoral Commission. The demands followed coverage of a man who claimed he had “been abducted … forcibly registered as a voter without his consent,” and who tore up the registration papers in protest.
Studio staff locked themselves in an office and refused to comply. NISA agents insisted that the station delete the interview and hand over the personal data of the interviewee, but the staff refused. The agents then threatened to pursue the station’s editor before leaving. As of the latest reports, the interview remained accessible online.
This raid reflects part of a broader pattern of intimidation targeting journalists covering electoral abuses. In early May, NISA raided the home and studio of journalists Bashir Ali Shire and Mohamed Omar Baakaay after they reported on the abduction of youth and women linked to forced voter registration, one day after Mogadishu’s Karaan district commissioner incited violence by encouraging machete attacks on journalists.
Additionally, on May 28, three RTN TV journalists were detained while covering protests by local elders in Kaxda District. They were threatened, had equipment seized, and were nearly subjected to live fire. Another raid occurred near Bakara Market when staff tried to document similar coercive registration practices..
The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) denounced the attack as a “dangerous escalation” in state pressure on independent media. SJS Secretary‑General Abdalle Mumin emphasized that targeting outlets reporting voter manipulation “undermines democratic principles” and calls for an immediate halt to such violations, accountability for perpetrators, and full media freedom.
These coordinated raids—inside studios and homes, under armed threat—demonstrate a campaign aimed at silencing journalists exposing electoral misconduct. SJS is demanding protection for reporters and urging authorities to respect the public’s right to know about forced voter registration occurring across Mogadishu.
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