Hindia Haji Mohamed

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Hindia, a journalist for two state-run news outlets, was killed by a car bomb in Mogadishu, according to news reports.

Hindia was a producer and news reporter with the state-run outlets Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV. A bomb planted under the seat of her car was detonated by remote control, a journalist familiar with the case, who asked not to be named, told CPJ. Reports said Hindia was leaving university at the time of the attack. She was taken to a local hospital where she died a few hours later, the journalist said.

According to news reports, Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing. Members of the state-run media are often threatened and attacked by militants in the region, CPJ research shows. CPJ could not determine whether Hindia had received threats before her murder.

On February 25, 2016, a military court in Mogadishu handed down sentences to six people for their involvement in Hindia’s murder. Though they appealed the decision, the sentences were upheld by the court on March 20. Two of the six perpetrators, Abdirisack Mohamed Barrow, and Hassan Nur Ali Farah, were sentenced to death. The remaining four co-conspirators were sentenced to prison terms, with Mo’allin Mohmed Abukar Ali, and Mo’alin Mohamed Sheikh Yusuf, receiving life sentences, while Ali Hassan Aden Tooni, and Muheyadin Osman Mohamed Awale, were sentenced to 15 and 10 years in prison, respectively, according to news reports.

Hindia was the widow of Liban Ali Nur, who also worked for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV, and who was murdered on September 20, 2012. According to a statement emailed by the National Union of Somali Journalists, Hindia was a single mother of seven children.