Somalia / Africa

  

Court sentences man in murders of five Somali journalists

New York, March 4, 2016 — A military court in Mogadishu on Thursday found Hassan Hanafi, a former journalist, guilty of direct or indirect involvement in the killing five journalists on behalf of the armed militant group Al-Shabaab, according to news reports. The court sentenced him to death by execution, which in Somalia is usually…

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Somalia intelligence agency detains journalist for weeks

New York, January 6, 2016–Somali authorities should immediately release journalist Abdirisak Omar Ahmed or disclose any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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From Charlie Hebdo in Paris to bloggers in Bangladesh, extremists target press

Thursday marks one year since two gunmen burst into the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Over the following year, CPJ documented the deaths of 28 journalists who were killed for their work by Islamic militant groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This StoryMap charts the deadly attacks that took…

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Syria, France most deadly countries for the press

Of 69 journalists killed for their work in 2015, 40 percent died at the hands of Islamic militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. More than two-thirds of the total killed were singled out for murder. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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China, Egypt imprison record numbers of journalists

Egypt is second only to China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2015. Worldwide, the number of journalists behind bars for their work declined moderately during the year, but a handful of countries continue to use systematic imprisonment to silence criticism. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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Security officers investigate after a car bomb killed Somali journalist Hindia Haji Mohamed. (AFP/Mohamed Abdiwahab)

Car bomb kills broadcast journalist in Somalia

New York, December 3, 2015–A Somali journalist with state-run media was killed today in Mogadishu when a bomb blew up her car, according to news reports. Hindia Haji Mohamed was the widow of another journalist killed in an attack in Mogadishu in 2012.

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A screen shot of Jama Yusuf Deperani, left, interviewing Information Minister Mohamoud Hassan on Somali Channel TV

Puntland authorities arrest Somali Channel TV presenter

Nairobi, November 20, 2015–Authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland arrested Jama Yusuf Deperani, a reporter and presenter with Somali Channel TV, on Thursday, according to one of his colleagues and a member of the Media Association of Puntland, who both spoke to CPJ.

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Getting Away With Murder

CPJ’s 2015 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free Published October 8, 2015 Elisabeth Witchel/CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant The ambush of a convoy in South Sudan and the hacking deaths of bloggers in Bangladesh this year propelled the two nations onto CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries…

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A screengrab of Universal TV's talk show Doodwadaag. The show's producer and a director for the station have been arrested. (YouTube)

Somali security agents raid Universal TV office, arrest journalists

Nairobi, October 5, 2015–Somali national security forces raided the offices of the privately owned broadcaster Universal TV in Mogadishu on October 2 and arrested Abdullahi Hersi, the station’s East Africa director, and Awil Dahir Salad, a producer, on the same day, according to local journalists and reports.

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Militia in central Somalia detains six journalists for four days

Ahlu Sunna Waljama, a formerly government-aligned religious militia based in central Somalia, detained six journalists from July 31, 2015, to August 3, 2015, in the central town of Dhusamareb, according to news reports and local journalists.

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