Mareeg.com- The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ today expresses its alarm over aggressive attacks against two broadcast journalists in southwestern Somalia.
Mr Omar Abdirahman Mohamoud (Jaajaa) and Ms Sahra Ali Mohamoud, who work for privately owned Markabley Radio as reporter and newscaster respectively, were seriously beaten Thursday evening (11 June) by four masked Al-Shabab militias soon after they left the station, according to the journalists in Bardhere. The two journalists ran on foot from in an attempt to escape their attackers, but were chased and beaten severely with baseball bats. They were able to evade their attackers and are now hiding in the town.
According to journalists in Bardhere, during the beatings the militia attackers were over heard saying: “These are bad guys, so called journalists, we have to take an action.” After the attacks the militias went on to say: “The other journalists should have to leave the town.”
In addition to the beating of the journalists, the journalists of the region are fully censored and are not allowed to interview government officials, according to journalists in Bardhere. The beatings of these two journalists in Bardhere came less than a week when the director of Shabelle media network was brutally gunned down inside Bakara market by armed men.There is now tense and fear among the ranks of the Somali journalists while many of them decided to suspend their duties soon after the killing of Mr, Hirabe because of fear and threats passed to them by the armed groups in Mogadishu.One of these journalists resigned has famously said that Somalia has turned into the republic of fear for journalists and he told there are armed groups who want to police the mentality of the journalists Somali journalists face deadly risks in their country like targeted killings, threats and detenation. Mareeg.com
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