Killer Islamic militants go scot free
From SAAD MUSE in Mogadishu, Somalia
MOGADISHU, (CAJ News) – ISLAMIC militant groups are murdering journalists in most countries beset by terror, with Somalia the worst affected.
With most of the killers going free, Somalia is the worst country for the second year running, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The militant al-Shabaab is suspected in the majority of murders, a total of 24 killings over the past decade.
Extremist groups have repeatedly targeted journalists with impunity in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan.
CPJ’s Impunity Index, published annually on International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2, calculates the number of unsolved murders over a ten-year period.
Over 250 journalists were killed in some 13 countries ranked by CPJ during the period.
In the past decade political groups, extremist organizations are the suspected perpetrators in more than 40 percent of murder cases. Government and military officials are considered the leading suspects in nearly a quarter of the cases.
Around 95 percent of victims were local reporters covering politics and corruption.
Elisabeth Witchel, a CPJ consultant, said the index only analyses murders carried out with impunity and excludes those where partial justice has been achieved.
– CAJ NEWS
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