03 May 2016•Update: 18 May 2016
By Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI, Kenya
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on the Somali government to do more to protect media workers in one of the world’s most dangerous environments for journalists.
In a report released to mark World Press Freedom Day, the group called for the president, the federal parliament and government ministers to condemn attacks on journalists, prohibit intimidation and arbitrary arrests, halt the closure of broadcast stations and review legislation to bring it into line with freedom of expression.
HRW accused the Somali authorities and al-Shabaab militants of using violent tactics to sway media coverage, documenting arbitrary arrests, killings and the detention of journalists since 2014.
Over that period, 10 journalists have been killed in Somalia while six have survived attempts to kill them, the report, released in Kenyan capital Nairobi, said. Scores have received threats related to their jobs.
Last year, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Somalia at the top of its list of countries where journalists’ killings go uninvestigated.
“Human Rights Watch did not find evidence of any government official or security force member having been disciplined or charged for abuses against journalists in the past several years,” the report said.
Violence against journalists and other media workers that goes uninvestigated and unpunished reflects a wider impunity and general disregard for the rule of law, HRW added.
The group referred to the case of veteran journalist Abdirisak Jama Elmi, shot by unknown assailants in October 2014.
“As I was trying to escape, the man started shooting automatic rounds and I felt as though he hit me about 10 times in my back, I could hear several voices telling the shooter to aim better,” he told HRW.
The group’s Africa researcher, Laetitia Bader, said: “Media freedom shouldn’t be yet another fatality in Somalia. On top of the long-term threats from al-Shabaab, the new government is increasing the danger and repression for journalists at the very time when their services are most needed.”
Al-Shabaab poses a particular threat to journalists, the report noted. “If I had only one enemy and if I saw accountability and justice for the murder of my friends, I wouldn’t censor myself,” a radio station manager told HRW. “But now we face a very dangerous group that wants to interpret every single word in the media, that is al-Shabaab, and authorities that also want to oppress us instead of protecting us.”
