Somalia

The risk of increased attacks that the media face is exacerbated by the lack of investigations and prosecution of perpetrators involved in the killing of journalists.

The latest action taken by authorities to suspend the organisation’s bank accounts could be in retaliation against SJS’ critical stance on media freedom.

With the majority of Somalia’s newly appointed media council made up of allies, the body is highly susceptible to government and political interference.

Somali court dismisses case against journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul.

‘Kaab TV’ editor Mohamed Ibrahim Bulbul, who is also information and human rights secretary at the Somali Journalists Syndicate, has been held incommunicado for more than a week.

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange network condemns the prolonged detention and harassment of Somali media rights advocate, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin.

According to IPI’s October press freedom violations factsheet the majority of attacks on journalists were perpetrated in Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Somalia.

The Committee to Protect Journalists describes the arbitrary arrest of Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the secretary-general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate, as an “act of agression.”

Cameraman Ahmed Mohamed Shukur becomes the latest media fatality in Somalia after he is killed by landmine, while covering a counter-terrorist operation.

While covering a major news event, Somalian journalist Ahmed Omar Nur is shot at point blank range by elite police deployed at a hotel under siege.

A regional court in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Somaliland, convicted journalists Mohamed Abdi Ilig and Abdijabar Mohamed Hussein of spreading false news. The pair had been part of a group of journalists arrested while reporting on a prison riot.

Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, is urged by Reporters Without Borders to prioritise the safety of journalists “in a country where political violence and corruption have long prevailed over press freedom.”

The assault on journalist Abdisalan Ahmed Awad and his colleagues points to the continued attack on journalists whose content the authorities don’t like.

Fourteen journalists reporting on a prison riot in Hargeisa, in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Somaliland, were arrested, and their cameras were confiscated.