The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns in strongest terms possible the targeted killing of television journalist in Mogadishu’s Madina district.
Journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed, nicknamed Gabow, who has been working for privately owned Kalsan TV, died at around 17:43 local time after improvised explosive device fitted to a car he was to drive went off, causing the journalist to die on the spot.
According to his family and experts, an explosive devise was planted under the driver’s seat and exploded seconds as Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed started the engine.
“We condemn this dreadful murder of our colleague Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed and we send our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues. The situation facing Somali journalists is horrific with threats and assassinations on a number of fronts. It was just yesterday on the international Human Rights Day that we were demanding for the protection of the safety of journalists.”
The secretry general of NUSOJ, Mohamed Ibrahim Mo’alimu demands the Federal Government of Somalia to take serious action on protecting the country’s media workers and heed to the calls from local journalists to tackle the country’s shocking impunity problem before more lives are lost.
“With all the targeted killings of journalists that happened in this country, no single investigation of a killed journalist is currently going on. This impunity for the killers of and culprits of violence against journalists only serves to fuel a cycle of killing” added Mo’alimu.
The killing of Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed take the tally of journalists killed in Somalia in 2017 to 4 with three of them killed through bomb explosions. Mohamed, 29, is survived by one daughter and her mother.
