Reporter arrested while covering protest

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate and unconditional release of La Voix de Djibouti reporter Mohamed Ibrahim Waiss, who was arrested while covering an opposition demonstration today in a suburb of Djibouti City. The police suddenly arrested Waiss during a protest in the district of Balbala Hayabley by members of the Union for National Salvation (USN), a coalition of opposition parties. He was taken to Hodan police station where he is currently being held. “We call for the unconditional release of this journalist, who has been singled out for persecution,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Waiss already spent four months in Gabode prison in 2011, and several more days there again in December 2013. And now he has been arrested again while working as a reporter. The authorities must stop gagging the media and stop arbitrarily arresting outspoken journalists.” Djibouti is ranked 169th out of 180 countries in the 2104 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.