The killing of a Hassan Osman, a Somali radio station head, has raised calls for the country’s transitional government to step up its investigation into the murder.
Gunmen shot dead Osman, the director of a major Somali radio station in front of his home in Mogadishu, Somalia's largest city, on January 28.
Osman, who was 29 years old, headed Radio Shabele. Two men stopped him as he was entering his gate and then shot him several times, said Mohamed Moalim, a relative who stayed in the area. "We don't know who they are, but they shot him mercilessly in the head and shoulders," he said.
Colleague Adan Yare confirmed the attack. "Two men armed with pistols shot the director several times and he died on the spot," he said. "We are very much worried tonight," he added.
Radio Shabele interrupted its programmes to broadcast several verses from the Koran as an expression of mourning for Osman.
Somalia, which has been devastated by 20 years of civil war, is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
"We condemn the shooting incident that killed our colleague," said Mohamed Ibrahim, the National Union of Somali Journalists’ (NUSOJ) secretary general. "We send our deepest condolences and sympathies to the families and friends who might miss him, while we call the Transitional Federal government to investigate the shooting to death of the journalist."
Last year, three journalists have been killed in Mogadishu alone, said the NUSOJ.
The man, the statistic
Osman, who was known to colleagues and friends was nicknamed ‘Hassan Fantastic’. After the shooting, he was rushed to Madina Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Osman is the first member of Somalia's media to be killed in the country this year.
He is survived by a wife, two daughters and one son.
He was the third director of the network to be killed, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) said, recalling the killing of Bashir Nur Gedi in 2007 and Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe in 2009. He had also done some work for CNN. Press TV said he used to host a show about social issues.
"Violence against journalists in Somalia is sustained by impunity for those responsible," RWB said said.
"It is quite clear that (he) was deliberately targetted. We call for a serious and impartial investigation that leads to the identification of his murderers."
In December a man wearing a military uniform shot dead a journalist working for a local television station in a Mogadishu street.
Two months earlier, a Malaysian cameraman was killed in the city, the site of fierce fighting between Islamist Shebab fighters and the weak transitional government backed by African Union peacekeepers.
Source: Agencies, NUSOJ
