SRSG Keating condemns assassination of journalist Sagal Salad Osman

6 Jun 2016

SRSG Keating condemns assassination of journalist Sagal Salad Osman

 

PRESS STATEMENT 14/2016

 

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Michael Keating, today condemned the assassination of the Somali journalist Sagal Salad Osman yesterday afternoon in Mogadishu.

 

A presenter and producer for state-run Somali National TV and Radio Mogadishu, Ms. Osman was shot dead by unidentified gunmen as she was leaving a local university. She was the first Somali journalist to be killed this year.

 

The UNSOM Human Rights and Protection Group documented the murder of four journalists and the wounding of another four in 2015. Five journalists were killed in 2014 and seven more were wounded under similar circumstances, according to the Mission’s Human Rights and Protection Group.  

 

In its annual report for 2015, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Somalia as the worst country worldwide in bringing to justice the killers of journalists.   

 

“The murder of Sagal Salad Osman is very distressing. Too many journalists have been killed in Somalia - essentially just for doing their job,” said SRSG Keating. “Journalists play an essential role in sharing information and in holding those in authority to account.”

 

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to track down Ms. Osman’s killers. “We urge the authorities to spare no effort in finding and prosecuting the perpetrators of this terrible crime. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Osman.”