Africa: Somali Journalists Killed With Impunity

1 June 2011
allAfrica.com

Somalia is the world's second most murderous country for journalists, says the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In its annual "Impunity Index" - which identifies countries "where journalists are slain and killers go free" - the CPJ says there have been 10 unsolved murders of journalists in the last 10 years.

Nearly 60 journalists have fled the country, and those who have stayed "practice extreme self-censorship to survive."

Somalia has the worst impunity rating in Africa. Internationally, it ranks second only to Iraq.

Recording one of the unsolved murders, the CPJ reports that one of the victims was Sheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey, who was tortured and shot in May 2010.

"Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the murder of Abkey, one of the country's most senior journalists, in reprisal for his work at state-run Radio Mogadishu," says the CPJ.

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