Hiiraan Online
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Mogadishu (HOL) - Last night Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of Somalia hosted a dinner ceremony for media practitioners at Villa Somalia to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
At the dinner President Mohamud the president thanked Somali journalists for their sacrifices they make daily to provide news and information to the public.
“Without Somali journalists the country wouldn’t have achieved this much progress made in terms of security, accountability, transparency and development.” Said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud “Somali journalists are our heroes and we must do all to protect them and end impunity for Crimes against Journalists”, added the president.
The 'International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists' was created in 2013 after the UN general assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163 marking November 2nd as the day to raise awareness for the journalists murdered and to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes.
President Mohamud said that his government's official stance is that they have zero tolerance when it comes to the killing of journalists and that his administration has made strides to show its commitment to end the impunity for crimes against journalists. He pointed to the death of Hassan Hanafi Haji and others who were brought to justice by a court of law and executed publicly. Hassan Hanafi was former media officer for Al Shabaab who orchestrated the death of at least five journalists on behalf of the extremist group. He was sentenced to death in March 2016 by a Somali military court after being extradited from Kenya in 2014. He was executed a month later by a firing squad days after two other Al Shabab members were executed for the murder of Hindiyo Haji Mohamed who was killed by car bomb in December 2015. The use of military courts termed "Courts of Absolute Power" by Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the death penalty has raised concerns by human right advocates for fair trial violations.
Although the sentiment was well received by journalists in attendance, many would like to see more done to protect journalists and to bring those who commit crimes against reporters to justice. The Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) annual global impunity index placed Somalia as the most deadly place to be a journalist for the second consecutive year, beating out Iraq and Syria. CPJ believes that the countries with the highest rates of impunity in the murders of journalists can be attributed to killings by Islamist militant groups.
The CPJ says that 59 journalists were murdered in Somalia since 1992 for their work.
During the dinner the president spoke with members of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) to listen to their concerns as media professionals and to receive their recommendations.
The President also spoke of implementing the Media Law which aims to establish and independent regulatory body for the media.
“Furthermore, I signed the Media Law into a decree and is to be implemented and we hope the country will soon have an independent and responsible Media Council that will regulate the media industry, so that our country will become one of the countries around the globe to have a free media as enshrined in our provisional constitution. Article 18 says Every person has the right to have and express their opinions and to receive and impart their opinion, information and ideas in any way.”