UK Parliamentarians Table a Motion on Safety of Journalists in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia, January 26, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) welcomes the decision of United Kingdom Parliamentarians to formally table a motion on safety of journalists in Somalia at House of Commons.

The National Union of Journalists of Great Britain and Ireland (NUJ) in close cooperation with its sister union in Somalia, NUSOJ, lobbied British MPs to submit this motion which was tabled on 24 January 2012.

The motion reads:

That this House is concerned about the ongoing threats to, and arrests and killing of journalists in Somalia; condemns the mass arrest of journalists without charge in Somaliland; believes that these arrests are an attempt to intimidate journalists into not covering news stories critical of the governing authorities; is appalled at the killing of journalist Abdisalan Sheik Hassan, who was shot dead on 18 December 2011; equally condemns the killing of journalists Farah Hasan Sahel, Noramfaizul Mohd Nor and Abdiaziz Ahmed Aden, who were killed in 2011; supports the efforts of the National Union of Somali Journalists and its members who perform a crucial role in reporting in Somalia against a background of violence and intimidation for carrying out their jobs; and urges the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to raise the issues of organised and continuing threats against journalists in Somalia as a matter of urgency with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.

“We hail the tabling of this important motion which highlight the sustained and systematic risks that Somali journalists face,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.

NUSOJ commends the five MPs that tabled the motion who are playing instrumental role. NUSOJ is glad its cooperation with the NUJ has resulted in such submission.