Somalia's corrupt police to use EUCAP email as evidence against journalist held incommunicado

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Somalia's corrupt police to use EUCAP email as evidence against journalist held incommunicado

MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) – Somali police officers are preparing to use an email correspondence sent by the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP) as incriminating evidence against detained journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Bulbul

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Journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Bulbul. | Photo credit Facebook/Mohamed Bulbul.

MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) – Somali police officers are preparing to use an email correspondence sent by the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP) as incriminating evidence against detained journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Bulbul, who is presently held incommunicado at Mogadishu's Hamarjajab police station, according to official sources.

"We possess compelling evidence from EUCAP Somalia forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), outlining Bulbul’s reporting that cast a negative light on the reputation of the police,” remarked police spokesman Sadiq Adan Doodishe. "Our investigations are still ongoing.”

Doodise says he met Bulbul during an interrogation session on Wednesday afternoon August 30.

In an official statement shared on social media, the police department also announced its ongoing inquiry into the sources cited by the journalist, which unveiled alleged misappropriation of police stipends.

Bulbul, a senior editor and the Secretary of Information and Human Rights for SJS, was apprehended without apparent justification following the publication of his groundbreaking investigative exposé.

The report uncovered instances of embezzlement involving funds designated for junior police officers participating in a training seminar supported by the EUCAP Somalia July.

Police spokesman Sadiq Doodise says he met Bulbul during an interrogation session on Wednesday afternoon August 30.

The broadcast by Kaab TV on August 16 unveiled that 36 police officers, slated to receive daily per diem payments for a 46-day training seminar focused on computer skills, were left bereft of their entitled compensation. Subsequently, these officers engaged in a strike, demanding the disbursement of their per diem payments.

This startling revelation emerged following Bulbul’s in-depth investigation into a significant corruption scandal, wherein police trainees voiced grievances about the alleged misappropriation of stipends originally intended for their compensation.

As detailed by at least three of the trainees, they were instructed to affix their signatures to an attendance sheet bearing the logos of both EUCAP and the Somali police.

"At the onset of the training, we were asked to sign attendance sheets adorned with EU logos and police emblems,” said one of the trainees, who requested anonymity for security reasons. "We were supposed to receive a $10 daily per diem for the two-month training seminar on computer skills.”

In a statement issued on 8 July, Deputy Police Commissioner Osman Abdullahi Kanif elucidated that the selected officers from the Police Departments had been invited to the training in order to enhance the administration and management of various police divisions.

Nevertheless, officers who partook in the training have claimed that they never received the stipulated per diem, later learning that EUCAP had withdrawn support due to unspecified reasons.

Journalist Bulbul’s exposé shed light on the grievances of these police officers, drawing the ire of senior officials and, reportedly, causing consternation among the EUCAP Somalia team.

Bulbul’s legal team has expressed perplexity over EUCAP’s involvement in the journalist’s detention, which they consider a grave violation of his rights. The EU Charter mandates the safeguarding of fundamental human rights on a global scale.

Despite our attempts to contact EUCAP through the provided channels on its official website, we have not received a response.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate condemned Bulbul’s incommunicado detention and said Bulbul was subjected to abuses such as torture, threats, illegal forced interrogations, denied food, and denied access to family and legal representatives.

"No charges have been filed so far. Therefore, he is not officially accused person,” it added in the statement.