President Bihi’s Administration Faces Growing Criticism Over Seizing Books

There has been growing criticism against President Bihi’s government in the past few days after security forces at the Hargeisa airport seized a book written by poet Abdirahman Abees last week. Initial reports said the police took around 4000 copies from the airport to prevent them from being sold to the public. The book is about the criminal justice sector.

The Executive manager and the founder of Hiil Press, the company that published the book, Abdulatif Guelleh still demands answers from the government on why the book was seized. He emphasized that the book met all their editorial requirements for publication.

The government has not issued a statement on the matter. However, the author of the book Abdirahman Abees is a well-known critic of the government. He was detained in 2019 for reciting an anti-administration poem.

This is the second book seized by the government within two weeks. Some of the public believe that these unprecedented actions targeting writers is a continuation of the trend to deteriorate freedom of speech under president Bihi’s rule.

President Bihi’s minister of information, had earlier in 2020 and 2021 admitted the government’s desire to commission a unit for censoring books.