The Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) has expressed relief at the decision by a military court in Mogadishu to release journalist Mohamed Abdiwahab Nur Abuuja.
The journalist has been in detention since March 2020 when agents from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) arrested him.
On Wednesday, however, the court released him after throwing the charges filed against him by state prosecutors.
NISA first arrested Abuuja in February 2020 before releasing him and re-arresting him on March 2, 2020.
Since then, he has been in police custody though his colleagues, family, and lawyers have been denied a chance to visit him.
This week on Monday, NISA presented him in court where it charged him with murder.
FESOJ has not hidden its joy at Abuuja’s acquittal. It added its voice to the call from other organizations for Abuuja’s unconditional release from prison.
Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, FESOJ’s Secretary General, called his acquittal “justice.”
The organization said it always believed that the charges filed against Abuuja were false. It also said that Abuuja has been an innocent professional journalist all along.
FESOJ has urged the government to compensate Abuuja for wrongful, illegal, and unconstitutional detention for over five months.