In 2021, 105 incidents of media violations were recorded. The violations recorded by SMSJ largely targeted on-duty journalists and included: two cases of murder, 66 arrests, 14 media outlet raids, 14 physical assaults, 13 cases of harassment, and two sham trials.
The figures represent an overall 62 percent increase from 2020 (65 cases: two killed, four injured, 56 arrested, and five media shutdowns), and the highest caseload recorded in almost a decade. Two senior Somali journalists were targeted for their work and killed by AlShabaab.
Since 2017, 15 Somali journalists were killed, and according to CPJ, Somalia’s fatalities represent more than half of all journalists murdered in Africa.
The scale and frequency of violations has seen a sharp dramatic rise as the government’s term expired in early 2021, and political tension caused by illegal mandate extension ensued. Street protests, violent armed clashes, and insurgency rocked the country, and the media
suffered the brunt of various armed actors and political groups.
Banadir region took the unenviable top spot for the third consecutive year as the most dangerous location for journalists. It accounted for nearly half of all violations, 71% of physical beatings, 37% of arrests, and 69% of threats and harassment targeted at media workers. In
a bid to enforce media blackout on unfavorable political events, police and NISA officers in Banadir raided four media outlets, confiscating equipment and damaging the facilities.
Security also resorted to the use of roadblocks to block members of the media from covering protests and other critical public interest stories. In other states such as Jubaland and South West, officials harassed the media through arbitrary detentions, summonses, and interrogations to warn them against covering protests and aggrieved parties during the election. In Puntland, journalists continued to face illegal military court
detention and sham trials
