World Press Freedom Day: Journalists face killings, arrests in Somalia

As the world marks World Press Freedom Day, journalists in Somalia continue to face killings, arbitrary arrests and intimidation by security forces.

Rights groups warn conditions will worsen as elections approach.

The situation in Somalia comes as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its 2026 World Press Freedom Index this week, warning that press freedom has hit its lowest level in 25 years globally.

 For the first time in the index's 25-year history, more than half of the world's countries now fall into the "difficult" or "very serious" categories for press freedom.

RSF said the sharpest decline was in the legal indicator, describing it as a clear sign that journalism is increasingly being criminalised worldwide.

A Jubaland police officer shot dead journalist Abshir Khalif Shidane, 25, in Kismayo on Monday, March 2, as he drove home from an Iftar gathering with colleagues, making him the first journalist killed in Somalia this year.

The officer has been arrested with investigations are underway.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) has recorded at least 18 violations against journalists since January 2026, including arbitrary arrests, threats, torture, equipment confiscation and attacks on media houses.

SJS also documented 148 cases of arbitrary arrests last year. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says at least 85 journalists and media workers have been killed in Somalia since 1992.

"On this World Press Freedom Day, we are witnessing a dangerous decline in press freedom across Somalia and Somaliland.

Journalists are increasingly targeted for doing their job through arbitrary arrests, threats and violence at a time when the country faces uncertainty over elections," said Abdalle Mumin, Secretary General of SJS.

Somalia's political environment has grown more volatile. Parliament passed a constitutional amendment extending the presidential and parliamentary terms from four years to five, effectively delaying elections that had been expected in 2026.

Opposition leaders, former presidents and several federal member states have rejected the extension, with former President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed warning it would destabilise the country.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's tenure expires on May 15 under the 2012 Provisional Constitution, and press freedom groups say the contested legitimacy crisis is driving security forces to clamp down on journalists covering political developments.

Mumin noted that women journalists have not been spared, with SJS reporting that more than 10 per cent of attacks on media workers have targeted women.

Beyond physical threats, journalists, many of them young, face poor pay, limited training and weak workplace protections.

Somalia remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Armed group Al-Shabaab and other actors continue to operate across large parts of the country, compounding risks for reporters in conflict-affected areas.

Rights groups say persistent impunity for attacks on the press has created a climate of fear that limits public access to information.