The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined its affiliate, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), in condemning the murder of Hindiyo Haji Mohamed, the female journalist for the Somali national TV station (SNTV) who was killed when an explosive device attached under her car went off yesterday in the capital, Mogadishu.
According to the NUSOJ, Hindiyo Haji Mohamed (27), who worked for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV (SNTV), was returning home from Somali International University (SIU), where she was a student, when a bomb under her car went off. She was critically injured in the blast and later died of her wounds at the hospital. No immediate claim of responsibility was made, media reported.
Hindiyo leaves 7 children. Her late husband, Liban Ali Nur, who was also a journalist for the same television station, was killed on 20 September 2012 in a suicide attack on a restaurant in Mogadishu, the NUSOJ added.
The union called for an investigation into the journalist's murder to identify and punish her killers. "We all mourn this disastrous assassination of Hindiyo Haji Mohamed which is another reminder of the risks Somali journalists continue to face regularly. This was targeted killing, deliberately meant to eliminate Hindiyo. Those who deliberately seek to harm unsuspecting members of the public, including journalists, need to be condemned and hunted down to answer for their actions," said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.
The IFJ backs NUSOJ's call and sent its condolences to the friends and family of the reporter, the first female journalist killed in Somalia in the past five years and the fourth journalist murdered in the country in 2015, according to IFJ statistics.
"We are appalled by this outrageous targeting and killing of Hindiyo Haji Mohamed who had herself lost a journalist husband to mindless violence," said the IFJ President Jim Boumelha, adding that "Our thoughts go to her family, especially the seven children who have now lost both of their parents. We wholeheartedly back NUSOJ's call for a thorough investigation so that her murderers can face the full force of the law. In the meanwhile, the IFJ will continue to its own work to promote the personal safety of all Somalian journalists so they can safely do their job of reporting the truth on the ground".
For more information, please contact IFJ on + 32 2 235 22 16
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 139 countries