Journalist killed in Somalia

A Somali freelance radio and TV journalist was shot dead late Sunday by unknown gunmen in the town of Afgoye in the Lower Shabelle region.

The Somali presidency and a media rights group condemned the killing of Abduwali Ali Hassan, also known as Abduwali Online, a 25-year-old father of two children.

The journalist was working for Radio Kulmiye based in Mogadishu and UK based Somali TV station, Universal TV.

Somali presidential communications director Abdinur Mohamed Ahmed said in a statement posted on Twitter said it is too painful to take the murder of our young industrious journalist. 

The Villa Somalia Communications Director also sent condolences to the family and friends. He added that fear cannot silence or scare the restoration of safety of practising Journalism in Somalia.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, an independent journalists’ trade union established in May 2019 by professional journalists to defend the rights of working journalists, advocate for press freedom and provide legal aid, also condemned the killing. They called on the Somali Federal government and local authorities to bring the killers to justice.

No group has not yet claimed responsibility for the murder of the journalist.

Afgoye is located 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

Ibrahim Adan Najah, the governor of Lower Shabelle region, said the police have launched an investigation into the killing.

It marks the country’s first journalist murder case in 2020 but comes few days after Amnesty international said that at least eight journalists in Somalia have been killed since 2017 while at least eight others have fled the country.