Nairobi, September 27, 2016 — Somali authorities should thoroughly and credibly investigate this evening’s fatal shooting of radio journalist Abdiaziz Ali and swiftly bring his killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
The BBC reported that gunmen on motorbikes shot the journalist, who hosted a morning news program for the privately run Radio Shabelle, at sunset in the Yaqshid district of the capital Mogadishu.
Shabelle Media Network chairman Abdimalik Yusuf Mohamud told the National Union of Somali Journalists that Abdiaziz was on his way to visit his parents when he was shot.
The motive for the killing was not immediately apparent, and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is the second killing of a Somali radio journalist in Mogadishu this year.
In June, Sagal Salad Osman, who worked for state-run Radio Mogadishu, was fatally shot as she left her university campus. CPJ is investigating to determine whether her death was work-related.
“The killing of Somali journalist Abdiaziz Ali must not be allowed to become yet another statistic in a country notorious for not bringing journalists’ murderers to justice,” said Murithi Mutiga, CPJ’s East Africa representative. “We urge Somali authorities to leave no stone unturned in determining the motive for Abdiaziz’s and Sagal’s killings and finding and prosecuting those responsible.”
Somali authorities have repeatedly shut down Radio Shabelle and arrested its staff, and its journalists have often been targeted and killed, CPJ research shows.
CPJ ranked Somalia as the worst offender in its 2015 Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and killers go free.
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CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
