3 Al-Jazeera journalists arrested in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A Somali media rights activist says three Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested by security forces, a few hours before an editor of a daily newspaper in Mogadishu was released.

Hassan Gesey, director of the media advocacy group SIMHA, said Hamza Mohamed, a journalist with Al-Jazeera English television, and two cameramen were arrested by troops near Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday.

Gesey said Somali officials told journalists who visited Mohamed in a Mogadishu prison that the Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested upon their return from areas held by Islamic extremists where they interviewed al-Shabab officials.

The National Union of Somali Journalists condemned the latest arrests of journalists which came few hours before the government released Abdi Aden Guled, the editor of Xog-Ogaal, one of Mogadishu's oldest daily newspapers. Guled was arrested on Sunday.