His Excellency Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed
President of Somalia
Mogadishu, Somalia

February 5, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of expression around the world.

CJFE is greatly saddened and appalled by the murder of prominent Somali journalist and director of HornAfrik Radio, Said Tahlil Ahme. Ahme was shot four times in the head by three men with pistols in Bakara Market in Mogadishu on February 4, as he and other directors of radio stations were walking to meet members of the Islamist group Al-Shabaab. According to local groups, Ahmed may have been targeted by Al-Shabaab and other Islamist insurgents who disapproved of HornAfrik's coverage of the recent Somali presidential elections.

Ahmed is the second senior employee of the popular HornAfrik radio station to be killed in the past two years. On August 11, 2007, Ali Iman Sharmarke was killed when a remote-controlled device blew up his car in Mogadishu. He was driving home from the funeral of a fellow journalist, Mahad Ahmed Elmi, who had been shot on his way to work earlier that day. Shamarke was one of the founders of the radio network.

CJFE awarded Sharmarke and HornAfrik's co-founders with the 2002 International Press Freedom Award. The award recognised HornAfrik, the first independent radio network in Somalia, for its work in the face of intimidation and threats in a society where there is no one to protest to, and no protection of freedom of the press.

Somalia is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa, and one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media. Ahmed is the second journalist killed in the country since the beginning of the year. Hassan Mayow Hassan, of Radio Shabelle, was killed on January 1, 2009.

CJFE calls on the new government of Somalia to make the safety of journalists its top priority and to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation is carried out into this murder. Furthermore, we call on your government to ensure that the right to free expression is protected and that journalists are able to report in Somalia without fear of reprisal.

We thank you for your attention and look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Arnold Amber, President

CC: Mr. Ross Hynes, Canada's High Commissioner of Somalia
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs