AMSTERDAM (Sunatimes) - Somali migrant journalists living in the Netherlands have expressed on Sunday their deep sorrow over today's brutal killing on a prominent Somali journalist who was shot down Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia by unidentified gunman — they called this cruel and intolerable act.

Abdisalan Sheik Hassan (Hiis), who was working for Horn Cable TV, was gunned down while he on his car in Hamar Jajab district, in the heart of the week Somali government's main stronghold by a man dressed in the military uniform and armed with a pistol.

According to the TV colleges, Mr. Hassan Hiis was hit by three bullets on the head and he was dead shortly after he was admitted to Shifo Hospital in the area.

"We were really very shocked when we heard the news of the killing of the journalist, Hiis. We, as Somali journalists in the Netherlands, are condemning the killing of the reporter as barbarous act and absolutely inhumanity," Salah Omar, the editor of Wehelmedia.com said. “We are asking for independent inquiry into the latest killing of this journalist and brought the suspects before the court,” he added.

“I believe Mr. Hiis has lost his live because of his journalistic duty and revealing the truth of the news. I have already warned that free media in Somalia could face imminent risk at anytime,” Dahir Alasow, the chairman of Somali Associated Journalists (ASOJ) angrily said.

　36 journalists, 11 of them foreing reporters have been killed in Somalia, mostly in the capital Mogadishu since the collapse of the late military regime in 1991, as shown in a report released by the Committee for Protected Journalists (CPJ).

Mogadishu is the most dangerous place for media people in Africa where the lives of journalists are in a constant risk of life threatening, killing and torturing as hundreds of professional journalists fled the country for their safety.

By: Mohamed Abdi Farah