Somali journo shot dead - 1st this year
2013-01-18 13:55
Mogadishu - 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 fuelling 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 23 November, 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.
Chaos
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-Shabaab 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-Qaeda-affiliated
al-Shabaab 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.
- AP
