SOMALIA: Wife of journalist tells of husband’s Puntland imprisonment

The wife of jailed Journalist Abdifatah Jama Mire, the director of Horseed Media in Bosaso, Mrs.Sa’adiya Mohamed Ismail for the first time talked to the media about her husband’s imprisonment in Puntland.
In an exclusive interview with Horseed Media, Sa’adiya said she was devested by the illegal imprisonment of her husband, She  added it has been very difficult raising up her two young sons without her husband.
She said one of her sons is terminally ill and needs special care, Sa’adiya pleading with the Puntland government to the release her husband.
Mohamed Abdifatah, 3 years old, the son of the jailed director, told the reporters that he do not know where his father is, ”…I miss my father very much..please let us know where he is…” he said.
Abdifatah Jama Mire is in jail for the last two months. He was arrested on 13th of August this year, for airing an interview of an Islamist rebel leader, despite an appeals judge admitting that the prosecution has no evidence against him.
The government of the semi-autonomous region of Somalia has since banned all interviews with any opposition group.
Mire was condemned to a six-year jail sentence and a 500 dollar fine. His lawyer appealed the ruling, and after it was postponed, it finally came before the Bari regional Court of Appeal on 4 September.
The judge told the prosecution that it did not have enough evidence against the head of the radio station and gave them until three days to present more compelling evidence. So far, they have not done so and  Mire is still in jail.
Hussein Farah
Horseed Media