Utrecht (Sunatimes)Abdirashid Abdi
Ahmed, who was a reporter for Somalia’s Shabelle Radio, is now the Scandinavian
country of Norway, where he asked the Norwegian government for refugee asylum.
Reports told Dalmar Media.
Abdirashid said he fled Mogadishu after he had received death threats over his
journalistic duties. He was the producer of the sports programs and also the
social and political news events.
“I was called several times from unknown callers threating to kill me if I
don’t stop working as a journalist knowing that number of my colleagues were
shot dead in this manner, and then I decided to escape from my work and country
because of safety,” Abdi said. The threats were from both the Al Qaeda linked
group of Al-Shabaab and the local government soldiers in Mogadishu, reports
quoting Abdi said.
Abdi, who was one of the prominent journalists in Mogadishu, said the current
wave of killings against the journalists is to silence the free media.
Mogadishu’s based Shabelle Media Network, which contains website, radio and
Television, lost more than six journalists in the capital those were killed in
assassination during their tasks by unknown gunmen while dozens belonging to
this media outlet were wounded and others fled for abroad for safety.
Somalia is the most dangerous place in Africa for free media where it is too
difficult to be worked as a journalist.
For the past five weeks, more than 10 Somali journalists were killed in
Mogadishu in separate attacks which put 60 the death toll for the past four
years as more than 100 reporters were wounded while hundreds more fled out the
country for Europe, America and Australia.
--
Mohamed Abdi Farah
ProfessionalJournalist
Utrecht, Nederland
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Somalia: Prominent sports journalist seeks asylum in Norway
Abdi, who was one of the prominent journalists in Mogadishu, said the current wave of killings against the journalists is to silence the free media.