Al-Shabab militants in the Somali town of Baidoa yesterday shut down privately-owned Radio Warsan, and took the station’s director and news editor into custody.

According to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), al-Shabab forces in Baidoa entered the station’s premises on 30 September 2009 at 4 P.M, and demanded that the FM station stop broadcasting.

Local sources confirmed to the International Press Institute (IPI) that station director Hilal Sheik Shueyb and news editor Mohamed Aden Dhaysane were immediately brought to an al-Shabab station.

According to the most recent information available, the director and news editor remain in custody.

A BBC correspondent confirmed to IPI that he had spoken with the station’s director, who said that the station had been accused of airing “un-Islamic” programming, particularly songs and music.

The reporter asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

“Under al-Shabab, they want you to speak in Islamic ways and air only Islamic things,” the BBC reporter told IPI, explaining the frustrations faced by many journalists in Islamist-controlled areas. “But it is normal [that] in radio sometimes you need music, at least between the programmes, to entertain the people.”

The station has also reportedly been criticized for refusing to relay the Islamic call to prayer.

“The al-Shabab group holding Hilal Sheik Shueyb and Mohamed Aden Dhaysane must release them immediately,” IPI’s Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said. “Despite the ongoing conflict, all parties must respect the independence of the media and allow journalists to practice their profession without fear of harassment and detention.”

The town of Baidoa has been under the control of al-Shabab, a militia of radical Islamists, since January 2009, when the United Nations-backed Transitional Federal Government was expelled. The al-Shabab militia, along with Hizbul-Islam, another Islamist insurgent group, has controlled most of southern Somalia since 2008.

One IPI source reported that journalists throughout Somalia have been receiving “daily phone threats” from various groups, particularly “when tensions are high.”  The source added that journalists also receive intimidating calls from people pretending to be members of political groups, but have no way of distinguishing these from serious threats.

Some Mogadishu-based correspondents from several international news outlets have only recently returned to the capital, after being evacuated to Somaliland for safety reasons when fighting intensified several weeks ago.