UN expert on Somalia condemns journalist killing

GENEVA (18 January 2012) - The United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Somalia, Shamsul Bari, condemned Friday the murder of another radio journalist in Mogadishu.

According to several sources, Abdihared Osman Adan, a newscaster at Radio Shabelle, was murdered around 7 a.m. local time on January 18 by armed men in Wadajir district. He was attacked a few minutes after he left his home for the radio station to broadcast the morning news.

Adan is the ninth journalist from Radio Shabelle to be killed since 2007. In total, at least 10 journalists and media workers have been killed in Somalia in 2012.

“The targeted killing of journalists and media workers in Somalia and the continuing impunity for these cases has been a long-standing concern. I call for a prompt, effective and thorough investigation into the assassination of Abdihared Osman Adan,” Bari said.

On a separate issue, the UN expert condemned the execution on 16 January of two soldiers condemned to death in September 2011 by a military court in Mogadishu. According to credible reports, Jamal Ahmed A/qadir and Abdi Isman Ali Magan were shot at the Police School in the Hamar Jab-jab district of Mogadishu, Somalia. Both men were convicted for serious crimes, including murder and rape.
“The executions raise concern in relation to the level of compliance of military justice in Somalia with international fair trail standards,” said the UN expert.

“I call on the new federal government to renew the commitment made by the Transitional Federal Government during the Universal Periodic Review in 2011 to put a moratorium on death penalty,” Bari said.

An increasingly large number of countries have acknowledged that the death penalty undermines human dignity, and that its abolition, or at least a moratorium on its use, contributes to the enhancement and progressive development of human rights. Around 150 countries have either abolished capital punishment or have instituted a moratorium.
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