Somali Journalist escapes assassination bid

 

A Somali photographer, Faisal Omar Hashi on Saturday night survived an assassination attempt when bombs fitted into his car exploded in the capital, Mogadishu.

Hashi who works with Reuters was not close to his vehicle when the explosion occurred near Benadir Junction, thus escaping the attempt.

It is not clear which group launched the attack on the former legislator who is also a respected Islamic scholar.

The country is however battling militant group Al Shabaab who have been staging similar attacks.

Somalia is increasingly becoming a dangerous territory for journalists as three journalist have been attacked and two others arrested since March this year.

Hanad Ali Guled who works for privately-owned Goobjoog Television, was kidnapped from near his home by masked gunmen on 2nd April and was found the next day in a field 30 km south of Mogadishu, bearing the marks of torture and unable to talk.

Abdihamid Mohamed Karzai, a Universal TV technician, narrowly escaped being killed by the explosion of a bomb placed under his car in the Mogadishu district of Hamarwayne on 12 March.

Despite having no personal security concerns unlike their colleagues in southern and central Somalia, journalists in Somaliland and its neighbouring Puntland have in recent times been subject to intimidation, censorship and harassment, a scenario journalists’ rights groups criticizes as ‘draconian’.

Earlier this month, a court in Somaliland sentenced Abdimalik Muse Oldon to two years in prison for what they termed ‘endangering peace and security’ in Somalia’s breakaway region.

Oldon was arrested after travelled from Mogadishu where he met with Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.