SALON

Friday, Jan 18, 2013 10:45 AM UTC

Editor: Somali journalist shot dead; 1st this year

By

Topics: From the Wires,

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) —

Unknown gunmen shot dead a Somali radio producer on Friday, the first journalist to be killed this year, an editor with his Somali radio station said. Eighteen journalists were killed last year, making Somalia one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

Two gunmen shot dead Shabelle producer Abdihared Osman Aden in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, said Mohamed Bashir Hashi, the radio station’s editor.

Somali journalists say impunity is fueling the killings. The National Union of Somali Journalists said in November that journalists in almost every region of the country commonly face harassment, blackmail and arbitrary police detention. In addition, criminals are hired to suppress them.

“It’s an appalling murder but my message is they cannot silence us from telling the truth,” Hashi said.

No action has ever been taken following a case of violence against a Somali journalist, The National Union of Somali Journalist said in a report to mark the International Day to End Impunity on Nov. 23, sponsored by the free expression group, IFEX.

Somalia’s government should implement judicial reforms that will aid free and fair trials, as well as provide judicial protection for the media and ensure that police adhere to the law, according to the report titled “Impunity: War on Somali Journalists.” The international community can assist Somalia’s federal government to put in place effective and functional public law and order, the report said.

Somalia made significant strides politically last year in trying to establish its first functional government to move the country away from its failed-state status.

Somalia had not had a functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and turned on each other, plunging the impoverished nation into chaos.

African Union troops have helped to push Islamist extremists called al-Shabab out of all Somalia’s major cities, giving the newly elected government a chance to rebuild the country.

The International Federation of Journalist says the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab insurgent group has maimed and killed journalists who do not toe their line.

With Hizbul-Islam, another hardline insurgent group, they have in recent years ratcheted up pressure on radio stations, first and foremost to ascertain their authority on what goes on air and to impose Taliban-type commandments on un-Islamic music, ringtones, film and football, says IFJ.

More By Abdi Guled.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
212 points213 points | 7 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
153 points154 points | comment
vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
84 points85 points | 26 comments
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
49 points50 points | 8 comments
vote
With the help of Photoshop, artist Yao Lu has made shanshui — traditional ink paintings — of China's landfills
23 points24 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations