This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Somali freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim has been sentenced to a year in jail on a charge of insulting the government by interviewing a woman who claimed she was raped by soldiers.

The woman also received a year's sentence on the same charge. Three others who were arrested in the same case, including the woman's husband, were released.

According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), local reporters who attended the trial said the judge did not allow the defence to call several witnesses and that the prosecution had failed to provide relevant evidence.

Abdiaziz was arrested on 10 January in connection with an interview he conducted with the woman. She told him she had been raped by soldiers last year.

He and the woman were later accused of fabricating the rape story. But his story was never published.

Abdiaziz has contributed to several Somali radio news outlets and, in Britain, the Daily Telegraph.

The CPJ has condemned his conviction, demanded that the sentence to be overturned and called for Abdiaziz to be released pending his appeal.

Tom Rhodes, the CPJ's east Africa consultant, said: "We call on the authorities to denounce this miscarriage of justice, vacate the verdict, and free Abdiaziz Abdinuur immediately."

He added: "While President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud tries to portray his government as committed to human rights and reform, it is jailing a reporter for listening to a woman who said government forces had victimised her."

Source: CPJ

See also Lalia Ali's excellent article