Early Monday morning, around 1:30 a.m. on 5 May 2025, armed agents from the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) raided a residential house and media studio belonging to journalists Bashir Ali Shire and Mohamed Omar Baakaay in the Shibis district of Mogadishu.

The armed men, blindfolded and arrested journalist Bashir Ali Shire, who reports for MM Somali TV, and confiscated an external hard drive, CCTV storage equipment, and his phone from the residence.

Journalist Mohamed Omar Baakaay was not present during the raid, but the agents also arrested his brother, Anas Omar Mohamud. According to Bashir, the armed men threatened and intimidated him with pistols and took them to a secluded street corner in Shibis district, where they began beating Anas with the pistols and kicking him while interrogating him about his brother Mohamed’s whereabouts.

At dawn, the two were taken to the Shibis Police Station. They were later released around midday but were told to leave behind contact details in case they are needed again. Journalist Mohamed Omar Baakaay, who continues to publish on his Facebook page, has stated that he cannot return home due to fear of further violence. His passport, ID card, and mobile phone were among the items seized during the raid.

This incident occurred just a day after the Kaaraan District Commissioner, Farah Adani — an official appointed by the Mogadishu Mayor — publicly called for violence against journalist Baakaay.

On 4 May statement broadcast on multiple platforms, Commissioner Adani urged government supporters to "take machetes and sticks,” declaring they were authorized to "break the journalist’s bones and enter his house.” He went further to label the journalist a "drug addict and worse than the terrorists” and challenged his supporters to "bring him in handcuffs.”

On 3 May, journalist Baakaay published a video report on Facebook and YouTube claiming that "vulnerable women were being exploited for media publicity” during voter registration campaigns in Mogadishu, and that Mogadishu district commissioners "were under pressure to forcibly register people for disputed electoral purposes” in Mogadishu.

Baakaay has 260,000 followers across his Facebook page and 62,000 on YouTube which he uses for daily reporting.

Following this inciteful speech, threatening messages and images of critical journalists began circulating on social media, with some explicitly mentioning potential violence. SJS received a report from one journalist who was verbally threatened on the street with a warning of a ‘machete attack’ if he continued to publish criticism of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

While attacks on critical journalists have escalated in the past four months, SJS is particularly alarmed by the dangerous rhetoric of Karaan District Commissioner Farah Adani — a known political ally of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud— who reportedly commanded a defected police unit in Yaaqshiid during the Mogadishu violence in April 2021.

SJS expresses its deep concern on this new call to violence against journalists and we urgently call on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the Mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Ahmed Amiir, to immediately suspend Commissioner Farah Adani, and to launch an independent investigation into his threats and the raid of journalist Mohamed Omar Baakaay’s residence.  Such inflammatory actions not only endanger journalist journalist Baakaay but have also escalated the risk to other journalists in Mogadishu who report critically on the government.

"We condemn the raid on the journalists’ residence in Mogadishu on Monday, as we strongly denounce the dangerous call for violence made by the Kaaraan District Commissioner Farah Adani against journalist Mohamed Omar Baakaay. We particularly call for a full and independent investigation into the armed officers and individuals in civilian clothes who were involved in the raid,” said SJS Secretary General, Abdalle Mumin.

"While SJS has documented a disturbing rise in threats, intimidation, and physical attacks against journalists in Mogadishu in recent months, this specific call to violence by a government official in Mogadishu is already having a chilling effect on the work of independent journalists and poses a serious threat to freedom of expression in Somalia. The safety of journalists must be guaranteed, and officials inciting violence against the press, including Farah Adani must be held accountable to prevent further deterioration of press freedom and democratic discourse,” Mr. Mumin adds.