IPI: Probe Somali journo killing
2010-09-02 07:36
Vienna - Media watchdog IPI expressed concern on Wednesday over curbs on press freedoms in Somalia's breakaway Puntland state, as it called on authorities to investigate a journalist's stabbing.
On Tuesday, Abdulahi Omar Gedi, a Somali journalist working for private Daljir Radio, was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers when he left work late, colleagues said. The motive remains unknown.
"(We) call on the Puntland authorities to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into his death, and to determine whether or not it was related to his work at Radio Daljir," IPI director Alison Bethel McKenzie said.
"We also reiterate our alarm at recent press freedom developments in Puntland, including the jailing, for six years, of a radio director," she added in a statement.
Abdifatah Jama Mire, director of Horsed Media, was sentenced to six years in prison in August for airing an interview with an al-Qaeda-linked militia leader.
"Press freedom in Puntland has deteriorated since regional President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole took office in January 2009," IPI noted.
It cited Burhan Ahmed Dahir of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), who said Puntland authorities had issued a "censorship notice" two months ago, ordering all media to "submit their programming to the government ahead of publication or broadcast."
Now local journalists were also banned from travelling to the areas where the rebels were based, he said.
- SAPA