Baidoa (AX) — Somali journalist Bashir Mohamed Abdullahi has died from gunshot wounds suffered during fighting in Baidoa last week, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said Monday.
Bashir, 23, worked as a reporter for Arlaadi Media Network. He died in the early hours of Monday, Sept. 7, three days after he was shot in Baidoa.
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NUSOJ said Bashir was at his home in the Al-Ahmaar neighbourhood, north of Baidoa, when clashes erupted between government forces and fighters loyal to former South West State leader Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen.
Local journalists told NUSOJ that Bashir contacted his director after seeing unidentified armed personnel moving through the neighbourhood. His director advised him to stay inside until conditions had improved.
NUSOJ said Bashir later left the house to carry out his work as a journalist.
According to the union, unidentified armed men in uniform and with their faces covered stopped him and questioned him before shooting him twice in the back. He was left critically wounded.
Bashir was taken to Bay General Hospital, where doctors carried out emergency surgery.
NUSOJ said it had closely monitored his condition and stayed in contact with his colleagues while attempts were made to arrange additional medical treatment.
A transfer from Baidoa to Mogadishu had been planned for Monday morning so Bashir could receive more specialized care. His condition worsened, however, before the transfer could take place.
“Bashir’s death cannot be allowed to pass like so many attacks on journalists before it,” said Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of NUSOJ. “We have had enough messages of condolence without justice. What we need now are answers.”
Osman described Bashir as a young journalist with a promising career ahead of him and demanded accountability for his death.
“Who killed him, why was he killed and who will be held responsible?” he said. “When attacks on journalists go unpunished, it only makes the next attack easier. This chronic impunity has to end.”
NUSOJ said Bashir’s death highlights the risks journalists face in Baidoa and elsewhere in Somalia when armed clashes erupt.
The union said journalists are civilians performing professional duties and must not be targeted, threatened, detained or attacked while reporting on issues of public interest.
NUSOJ offered its condolences and support to Bashir’s family, colleagues and Somalia’s wider media community.
The union said Bashir was the first journalist killed in Somalia this year.
