The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is dedicated to fighting violations against journalists and press freedom and promotes freedom of expression and the human rights of journalists in Somalia.

"In Somalia, journalists are infrequently viewed as Human Rights Defenders and their role in society is often overlooked. Organised attacks or killings, harassment, arrests and other forms of intimidation claimed the lives of seven Somali journalists: four were wounded, more than thirty five journalists were arrested and unaccountable numbers were harassed since January this year (2007).

I would like to pay tribute to these murdered journalists, the late Ali Mohammed Omar and late Abshir Ali Gabre were not only press freedom activists or ordinary journalists; they were members of the supreme council of the National Union of Somali Journalists of which I am also a member. They gave their lives to defend the human rights of journalists in the workplace and elsewhere. However, merciless offenders saw it as in their interest to kill these colleagues. The savage killings continued and claimed the lives of two journalists of the Somali media company Hornafrik, while the latest and youngest victim is Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim.

Despite sophisticated intimidations that I have been experiencing with the other leaders of the National Union of Somali Journalists, I personally experienced unexampled pressures and harassments, which forced me to resign from my job as director of Radio Voice of Peace in Galkayo, Puntland. My employer and the authorities wanted the radio to be a propaganda tool of the political administration, but it became intolerable to me and I kept my line of professional independence. As pressure was mounting from every corner, I had no option apart from leaving office as well as the town of Galkayo when the Mayor ordered my arrest before the TNG President Abdullahi Yussuf ordered the closure of the Station in June 2005.

As a Puntland based journalist, I have been striving to secure the release of jailed journalists. Historically, Puntland is where most Somali journalists are imprisoned. Sometimes, I remember traveling from one town to another, paid for from my own pocket, to show solidarity with arrested colleagues. My efforts were not gratifying to the illmannered, corrupt and pitiless police forces who always wanted to hold journalists incommunicado. The police many times threatened my life because of my campaigns to release these guiltless journalists.

I also sought medical and moral assistance for survivors of torture of journalists. As one of my recent attempts, on July 18, 2007, I successfully organised an activity to release Journalist Abdifatah Dahir Jeyte of Radio Voice of Peace in Bossaso of Puntland Federal State, who was arrested on 16 July by Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS), a counterterrorism branch of Puntland Regional State. I got about twenty fellow journalists in Bossasso who protested against the arrest of the journalist before the headquarters of the PIS. The Deputy Interior Minister of Puntland got Involved and that led to the release of the journalist from PIS prison on the same day.

The sad situation is that all the crimes committed against journalists still remain uninvestigated and unpunished. The killers of journalists enjoy complete impunity in Somalia and get away unpunished because of judicial corruption and governmental negligence or the lack of effective law enforcement institutions. Not a single perpetrator of violence against press workers was ever investigated or brought to justice, and this made the country the most dangerous in Africa, and second in the world, next to Iraq for media professionals. This is a really depressing and disturbing reality."