Somalia

Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Telegraph
José Cendon, freelance

ABDUCTED

New York, January 2, 2009--A government soldier killed Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan, shooting the veteran journalist twice in the head after stopping him in the Somali town of Afgoye on Thursday morning, three local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. The journalists said they had interviewed witnesses to the killing. 

New York, December 19, 2008--The only radio station in an Islamist-controlled town in southern Somalia was shuttered by militants in a raid last week, according to the station's director.

New York, December 18, 2008—For the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its end-of-year analysis. The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ history.

New York, November 26, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the safety of four journalists who were reported kidnapped today in the port city of Bossasso in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Today marks the seventh day that four media workers have been held hostage by an unknown group roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) west of Mogadishu. Freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan, and Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, along with driver Mahad Clise, were returning from interviews with Somali refugees at Celasha Biyaha when they were kidnapped along the Afgoye-Mogadishu road. The Australian Federal Police and Australia and Canadian diplomats are working with the Somali government to help with hostage release efforts.

New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the safety of three journalists and their driver who were abducted by an unknown armed group two days ago.

Somali photojournalist Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi and two foreign freelance journalists, Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan, along with a driver identified only as Mahad, were kidnapped along the Afgoye-Mogadishu road, roughly 11 miles (17 kilometers) north of the capital, Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ.