Friday, October 12, 2012
Mourners carry the body of Somali journalist Abdisatar Dahir Sabriye who was killed in a double suicide attack at a restaurant September 20th in central Mogadishu. [Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP]
Sixteen journalists have been killed so far this year by bombs and gunmen, illustrating why press rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called 2012 the "deadliest year" on record for Somali journalists, surpassing 2009 when nine died.
RSF labelled the country such after two suicide bombings killed at least 14 people, including three journalists, and injured 20 others in a restaurant in Mogadishu on September 20th. A week later, two more Somali journalists were killed in the capital city.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the new Somali government to order an investigation into the killing of journalists.
"Somalia's journalists have long topped the lists of targets by all sides during the country's brutal civil war," Leslie Lefkow, deputy director of HRW's Africa division, said September 24th. "The new Somali president can act to end this horrific pattern by ordering prompt and serious investigations into these killings."
This is not the first time RSF has called attention to the violence against journalists in Somalia. In 2011, it labelled Somalia the deadliest nation in Africa for journalists, adding that 25 journalists were killed in Somalia from 2007-2011.
January 28th: Unknown gunmen shot and killed Hassan Osman Abdi, known as Hassan Fantastic, near his residence in the Wadajir district, south of Mogadishu. He was the director of the independent Shabelle Media Network. Then-President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed suggested that al-Shabaab was responsible for Abdi's death.
February 28th: Unknown gunmen shot and killed Abukar Hassan Kadaf, former director of Radio Somaliweyn, outside his home in Mogadishu.
March 4th: Journalist Ali Ahmed Abdi was shot and killed in the northern Galkayo region as he headed home from his job at Radio Galkayo.
April 5th: Unknown assailants shot dead Mahad Salad Adan in Beledweyne, editor of the Voice of Hiran local radio station and a reporter for Mogadishu-based Radio Shabelle. He had reported on clashes between al-Shabaab and the pro-government militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa.
May 3rd: Masked gunmen shot and killed Farhan Jeemis Abdulle, Radio Daljir reporter in Galkayo, as he headed home.
May 24th: Unknown assailants gunned down Ahmed Addow Anshur of Shabelle Media Network near his home in Mogadishu's Dharkenley district.
July 7th: Abdikadir Omar Abdulle, a journalist with privately owned Universal TV, was shot four times by unidentified gunmen near his home in Mogadishu's Madina district, but survived.
July 31st: Somali journalist and comedian Abdi Maleq Jeylani, known as Marshale, was fatally shot outside his home in Mogadishu's Waberi district. Jeylani worked at several radio and television stations, taking part in dramas critical of al-Shabaab.
August 12th: Veteran journalist and Somali Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications media relations manager Yusuf Ali Osman was gunned down by an unidentified man in Dharkenley district.
Voice of Democracy Radio journalist Mohamud Beneyste, 22, was killed later in the day while taking photographs near Mogadishu Stadium.
September 16th: Unidentified gunmen killed Freelance cameraman Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim in Mogadishu.
September 20th: Two suicide bombings killed at least 14 people, and injured 20 others in a restaurant in Mogadishu. Three journalists were killed in the attack: Liban Ali Nur, head of the news department at Somali National Television; Abdisatar Dahir Sabriye, Somali National Television's head of programming; and Abdirahman Yasin, director of independent radio station Voice of Democracy.
A fourth journalist, Hassan Yusuf Absuge of independent Radio Maanta, was later shot dead after working on a report about the suicide attack.
September 27th: The beheaded body of sports journalist Abdirahman Mohamed Ali was found in Mogadishu's Huriwa district. Ali had been abducted by armed men from a house near the Meat Market earlier that day. He worked for the sports news website Ciyaaraha Maanta.
September 28th: Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Ahmed Abdulahi Fanah, a 32-year-old reporter working for a Yemeni news agency, in Dharkenley district.