Somaliland Attorney-General Again Muzzles the Free Press and Summons Waaheen Editor for Exposing Order Freezing New Licenses

On 23 November 2011, the Attorney General of Somaliland, Mr Hassan Ahmed Adan. issued a directive announcing that no new licensing will be granted for journals, magazines or television broadcasting.  The directive sent to the Minister of Information and National Guidance and copied to the Minister of the Presidency is translated below.


To: The Minister of Information of the Republic of Somaliland

Cc: The Minister of the Presidency of the Republic of Somaliland

Subject: Temporary Freezing of All New Registration of Journals and TV Broadcasting

We are informing you that the applications that you have been forwarding to us for registration of new media operations have not been fulfilling the necessary requirements under the Somaliland Press Law.  In addition, it is necessary that Somaliland Press Law be amended in order to put in place a press law that is complete and which applies to all of the press.

For that reason, we are informing you that we have temporarily stopped the registration of new media operations until such time that a new Press Law is put in place.

Thanks to Allah.
Hassan Ahmed Adan 
Attorney General of Somaliland


Waaheen, which received a copy of the document, published a story on the order and provided a copy of the letter to its readers in its issue no 708.  On 29 November, Somaliland independent media organizations organized a workshop strongly protesting the order, which they believe violated a number of current statues, including article 32 of the Constitution.  In addition, they pointed out that the attorney-General’s responsibility is not to make law but to apply the laws of the land that are en force at the time.
Waaheen Chief Editor has been summoned to appear before him on 30/11/2011 to answer questions about why the newspaper published this news article and to divulge his sources.
Earlier this year, Waaheen Editor was jailed for more than a month for publishing stories that at the end turned out to be true.  For his work, Mohamoud Abdi Jama, Waaheen’s Chief Editor, won the prestigious 2011 CNN/MultiChoice African Freedom of the Press Award.