SOMALIA – Journalist gunned down outside Mogadishu home

Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.org)

Journalist gunned down outside Mogadishu home

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that another journalist has been killed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. It was Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh, who worked for Somali National Television and Radio Mogadishu, which are both state-owned. Two gunmen trailed him home and shot him yesterday evening.

“The supposed improvement in security in Mogadishu is for the time being still very fragile,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The Somali capital continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

“Rageh had received threats in the past and had just returned to Somalia after fleeing abroad for safety reasons. He is the second journalist to be killed in connection with his work in Somalia since the start of the year.”

Relatives said Rageh was gunned down outside the door to his home in Ma’ma’anka neighbourhood, in the Dharkenley district of Mogadishu, at around 6 pm. The two gunmen shot him seven times in the chest and head before fleeing.

Rageh had recently returned to Somalia after several years in Kenya and Uganda. In 2009, he resigned as a Radio Shabelle host and member of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) in order to leave the country after receiving death threats from the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab (http://en.rsf.org/predator-al-shabaab,42476.html).

He is the fourth journalist to be killed in Somalia since the start of 2013, but only the second to have been targeted in connection with his journalistic work. A total of 18 journalists were killed in Somalia in 2012, making it the world’s deadliest country for media personnel.

More information about media freedom in Somalia: http://en.rsf.org/somalia.html.