Nairobi, October 29, 2013–Journalist Mohamed Mohamud, commonly known as “Tima’ade,” succumbed to gunshot wounds on Saturday and died at Medina Hospital in the capital, Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ. Unidentified gunmen shot Mohamed, a reporter for the popular, privately owned, U.K.-based Universal TV, on his way to work on October 22 in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu.
Mohamed, who had been shot six times in the neck, chest, and shoulder, died of internal bleeding around 10:30 p.m. on October 26, local journalists said. He was an outspoken journalist who covered social and security issues in the capital, local journalists said. It is not clear who carried out the attack, although a Twitter account claiming to represent Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab took responsibility for the shooting.
The Somali government denounced the attack. On Twitter, Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said, “Government won’t tolerate any violence against journalists. There must be no impunity for these cowardly thugs who want to take Somalia backwards.”
“CPJ sends its deepest sympathy to the family and colleagues of Mohamed Mohamud, the latest in a string of brave young reporters to be killed in Somalia,” said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes. “Condemning these killings is not enough-authorities must do more to apprehend murderers who have struck with total impunity in 2013.”
At least four journalists and media workers have been murdered for their work in Somalia this year, and no arrests have been made, according to media reports. Somalia ranks second on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered regularly and their killers go free.
Mohamed, 26, had returned to Mogadishu from Nairobi in 2011. He was laid to rest on Sunday and is survived by his wife and daughter.
· For more on Somalia, visit CPJ’s Somalia page.
