The International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) today has condemned in strongest terms the killing of a
journalist in Somalia. According to the National Union of Somali Journalists
(NUSOJ) an IFJ affiliate, senior journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh a newscaster,
reporter and program producer for state owned Radio Mogadishu and Somali
National Television (SNTV) has been shot dead in Mogadishu by two men armed
with pistols on Sunday 21 April 2013.
“We condemn this killing and call on authorities in Somalia to investigate the
case so as to bring the perpetrators to court. The family, friends and
colleagues of Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh need to know the identity of the killers.
Authorities in Somalia must not keep killings of journalists unpunished,” said
Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director.
Rageh was shot dead around 6 PM in front of his house while he reached home
after his work. He was shot in the chest and head seven times, his family
witnessed. “We condemn the killing of Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh and
extend our condolences to his family. We demand swift action from the federal
government to check this deplorable trend in which journalists are being
targeted mercilessly,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “Stern
action must be taken against those bent upon gagging freedom of the press by
eliminating journalists”.
Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh was one of the members of NUSOJ’s Banadir Branch and he
was among the fifteen journalists who resigned from their work in 2009 due to
increased killings and deadly threats he received from Al-Shabaab militants. He
was then working for Radio Shabelle. In August 2009, the union with the help of
the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) evacuated him to Kampala,
Uganda, for safety reasons. But he recently came back from Uganda to take up
job at Radio Mogadishu.
IFJ recently welcomed the first conviction of a journalist’s murder in Somalia
hoping that the investigation and prosecution of that case would signal the
commitment of authorities to eradicate the impunity for crimes against
journalists in Somalia. IFJ thinks that killers of journalists must not enjoy
impunity.
Last year, Somalia was ranked as one the deadliest countries for journalists in
the IFJ annual report on journalists and media staff killed in 2012, with 18
killings. Rageh is the fourth journalist to be killed in Mogadishu in this year
following the death of Abdihared Osman Adan on 18 January, Mohamed Ali Nuhurkey
on 18 March and Rahmo Abdulkadir on 25 March. He is survived by his two
daughters and their mother.
For more information, please contact IFJ
on + 221 33 867 95 86/87
The IFJ represents more than 600.000journalists in 134 countries
