Broadcast Journalist killed in knife attack in Mogadishu

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) strongly condemns the murder of broadcast journalist in Mogadishu, and demands immediate prosecution of the assailants to ensure justice to the slain journalist. 

Journalist Said Yusuf Ali, 30, reporter for privately owned Kalsan TV, was last evening, 4 May 2020, attacked by a man with knife who stabbed him two times in the neck and twice in the chest after a woman pretending to be running away from the killer held him as a cover but escaped from the scene unscathed. 

The investigating police who spoke to NUSOJ confirmed that the suspected killer is currently detained and they are currently looking for a suspected woman. Investigating officers equally described the crime in this morning before the journalist’s body is taken for burial as a “calculated killing”. 

“We strongly condemn this barbaric act and demand the government to nab all the culprits at the earliest and bring them to justice. The killing of Said Yusuf Ali is another blow for the journalistic community in Somalia and our thoughts today are with his family,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General 

Killing a journalist, a day after World Press Freedom Day, signifies how enemies of journalists are determined to carry our horrible killings of defenceless journalists and highlights the safety crisis that Somali journalists continue to face. 

Said Yusuf Ali, who is survived by 2 children and wife, is the second journalist to be killed in Somalia in this year after the murder of Abdulwali Ali Hassan in Afgoye district on 16 February 2020. Said is also the second journalist to be killed in knife attack in 2 years after the slaying of Abdirisak Said Osman in Galkayo in September 2018. 

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