Investigative Journalists and media houses across Somalia came under increasing attack in the past year, Across the region, media workers have been laid off, television stations suspended or shutdown, private press targeted and journalists intimidated in a heavy blow to the right to freedom of expression and access to information.

"What we have witnessed in the past year, as far as media and journalistic freedom is concerned, can only be described as a dark period,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa, on World Press Freedom Day.

In Somalia, journalists faced an increasingly repressive working environment. They were beaten, harassed, threatened, subjected to arbitrary arrests, and were intimidated by the authorities, including by police, military and other government officials throughout south central Somalia and in Puntland. Authorities also restricted access to information. Three journalists were killed in Somalia since last year by the armed group Al-Shabaab and by other unidentified individuals. Journalists also faced trumped up prosecutions in Mogadishu and in Garowe, Puntland. Two of the journalists Mohamed Abdiwahab Nur (Abuja) and Kilwe Adan Farah were subjected to military court prosecutions.