Shabelle media network director gunned down in Mogadishu

Shabelle
Media Network director Hassan Osman Abdi,
better known locally as “Hassan Fantastic,” was gunned down outside his
Mogadishu home at 6:30 p.m. today, Reporters Without
Borders has learned from its partner organization in Somalia, the National
Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).

“Abdi is the first
journalist to be killed in 2012 in Somalia, Africa’s deadliest country for
media personnel,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Our
thoughts go out to his family and fellow journalists, who are yet again
mourning a colleague’s death. He is the third Shabelle
Media Network director to be murdered, following Bashir Nur
Gedi in 2007 and Mukhtar
Mohamed Hirabe in 2009.”

The press freedom organization added: “Violence
against journalists in Somalia is sustained by impunity for those responsible.
It is quite clear that Abdi was deliberately
targeted. We call for a serious and impartial investigation that leads to the
identification of his murderers.”

Abdi
was slain as he returned home from work. Witnesses said five gunmen shot him
outside his home after following from his office. Radio Shabelle
– a part of the Shabelle Media Network, along with a
TV station and a news website – had recently covered cases of government
corruption.

Born in 1982 in the far-south Lower Juba Region, Abdi was 29 and was the father of three children. He was
Branch Secretary of NUSOJ in Banadir (the region that
includes Mogadishu) and had worked for Radio Shabelle
for three years before taking over as head of Shabelle
Media Network on 20 October 2011.