Hargeisa (SD) – Horyaal TV Reporter Hoodo Gareys, said she and her mother were tortured by Somaliland police as they were trying to pick up a letter of injury for a woman at the Qudhac Dheer police station in Hargeisa on Friday, February 19th.

Hoodo said that the attack started, as they arrived at the Qudhac Dheer police station, one of the officers at the station told them to move their vehicle and park it somewhere else, and when she did, the soldiers began harassing her, torturing and imprisoning her.

“One of the soldiers came up to me and said, you are arrogant. I know you young woman, I said to him, do not insult me you’re being rude, he grabbed me by the hijab and I said to him take your hands off me, then him an a female soldier beat me, tortured then arrested me.” says journalist Hoodo Gareys.

Journalists added that her sick mother who was with them was also tortured by police.

She also confirmed that officials from the Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA) had visited her and seen what the police had done to her and her mother.

Hoodo Gareys said she tried to speak to the Somaliland police chief, seeking justice but was told he was in Djibouti.

Neither the police nor the Somaliland government have commented on the incident.