Somalia and Journalists

a brutalized journalist

Recent reports on the killing of 141 journalists in 29 countries in 2012 have again highlighted the crass anomaly in the treatment of journalists in most parts of the world. Switzerland-based media watchdog, Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), which released the disheartening statistics on the killings, recently, described 2012 as one of the deadliest on record for journalists.

It declared war-torn Syria, where 37 journalists, including 13 working for foreign media, were killed in the year, as the most dangerous place on earth for reporters. Nineteen journalists were reported killed in Somalia, while in Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) president, Mohammed Garba, said 13 journalists died while covering assignments in the country last year. The number of journalists killed worldwide in 2012 was said to be 31 per cent higher than the figure for 2011.

The increasing killing of journalists, worldwide, is deeply troubling and unacceptable. No professional should have to lose his life simply for carrying out his legitimate duties. The high casualty rate among journalists last year should serve as a wake-up call to despotic leaders everywhere, because it is bad leadership that fuels crises that lead to wars and insurgencies that claimed most of these journalists, especially in Syria and Somalia.

It has become a trend that whenever there are wars and insurgencies to be covered by journalists, some of them get caught in the vortex of violence and lose their lives. Some get kidnapped and are held hostage, simply for doing their jobs. We strongly condemn this state of affairs. Journalists are watchdogs of society. In many countries, including Nigeria, the media is widely recognised as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. The Nigerian Constitution 1999, (as amended) in Section 2, charges the media to, at all times, uphold the accountability of the government to the people.

Virtually every country recognises the right of the media to inform the people about developments in the society. Yet, journalists who are expected to carry out these assignments are targeted for attack, almost all over the world. Journalists have the duty to connect leaders and their people with information, to expose ills in the society and point the way forward to a better society. They do this through incisive analyses and ferreting out of news that certain persons would rather keep hidden.

Attempts to illegally abridge journalists’ right to dissemination of information often leads to these unconscionable killings. In war situations, they get caught in the fray, and are killed without regard to the provision of the Geneva Convention that unarmed persons in conflict situations should not be targets of attack. Journalists, who are mostly in conflict zones to report developments, are among the most vulnerable of all stakeholders in combat zones.

They should not be killed, and their killing mostly reflects the state of development of the nations in which they lose their lives. Such killings are not common in stable countries where there is respect for freedom of action and speech. They are the hallmark of unstable nations with bad leadership. The number of journalists who died in the course of their assignments in Nigeria last year is also too high. Not even during the military era did the nation lose so many journalists in one year.

While sympathising with the families of the fallen 141 journalists, we call for renewed respect for the person and role of journalists, worldwide. Journalists are hardly treated with the respect due to them in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, especially during the military regimes, journalism houses were raided, journalists arrested, whipped and harassed, and their cameras seized while a number were killed.

Notable among those killed are Mr. Dele Giwa of Newswatch magazine and Mr. Bagauda Kaltho, of The News magazine, who were bombed to death. We also recall the killing of Tayo Awotusin and Kris Imodibe during their coverage of the Liberian conflict. This is wrong. Journalists should not be seen as a threat to society as they play the important role of informing and correlating the polity. They have important constitutional role, and any attempt at killing them, or abridging their right to perform their role as societal watchdogs, is an abridgement of the constitution of Nigeria, and those of many other countries.

We, however, enjoin journalists everywhere to embrace self-circumspection in the discharge of their duties. It has been noted that some media professionals attract harm to themselves through unprofessional practices. True professionals must guard against this, and their employers must make proper arrangements to secure and insure them against risks to their lives.

Let there be better understanding of the function of journalists who have the sacred but challenging role of informing the society and upholding good governance. They should not be seen as enemies of society, or put on the firing line during conflicts.

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Meanwhile, A "Committee to Protect Journalists" in Somali reported that a freelance journalist has been in custody in Mogadishu since Thursday for interviewing a woman who claimed she was raped by government soldiers, 

Abdiaziz Abdinuur, who is also known as "Koronto," has reported for several local and international news outlets, including Dalsan Radio, Badri Media Productions, Radio Ergo, and the U.K.-based Daily Telegraph. He was summoned on Thursday to the Central Investigations Department (CID) in the capital for questioning in connection with his January 6 interview with an internally displaced woman who has claimed that she was raped by several soldiers last year, according to news reports and local journalists who spoke to Abdiaziz. No warrant was issued for the journalist's arrest, and no charges have been filed against him, the sources said.

The woman has claimed that she was raped by Somali soldiers while living in a camp for internally displaced persons in Mogadishu in December, according to news reports. On January 6, Al-Jazeera English published a story of government soldiers raping internally displaced women in Mogadishu camps. It is unclear if the woman mentioned in the Al-Jazeera story is the woman whom Abdiaziz interviewed, but local journalists said the Al-Jazeera report is what led to police looking for the source of the allegations.

Police also summoned for questioning Omar Faruk, a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera Arabic Service in Somalia, but released him after he said he had no connection with the Al-Jazeera English report.

CID Chief Abdullahi Hassan interrogated the reported victim early Thursday, demanding that she give them contact information for any journalists who interviewed her, and then used her phone to contact Abdiaziz, according to news reports. Police also arrested the woman, but released her on Thursday on the condition that she return today for further questioning.

Abdiaziz told police that he had interviewed the reported victim, but had not published the story, according to local journalists and news reports. Police searched his home and confiscated his laptop, digital recorder, and cellphone, local journalists said.

Authorities did not immediately disclose their reason for detaining and interrogating a person who reported a crime and the individuals to whom she reported it. Repeated calls to the information minister and deputy information minister were not answered.