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Swedish freelance cameraman Martin Adler .An unidentified gunman shot Adler in the back and killed him as he filmed a protest Friday June 23 2006, Mogadishu, Somalia |
28 June 2006 – Describing the recent killing in war-torn Somalia of award-winning journalist Martin Adler as “despicable,” the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today urged the Transitional Government and the country’s Islamic Courts Union to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Mr Adler, a brave and distinguished professional, died while exercising the inalienable human right of freedom of expression,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement.
“I urge the Transitional Government of Somalia and the country’s Islamic Courts Union to identify and bring to justice the killers of Mr Adler. By so doing, they will give a strong signal to the people of Somalia about the standards of governance and respect for human rights they intend to implement in the aftermath of civil war.”
Mr. Adler, a Swedish journalist working for British television broadcaster Channel 4 and for the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, was shot at close range by an unidentified gunman in the Somali capital Mogadishu on 23 June, while filming a demonstration organized by the Islamic Courts Union.
“This despicable act was brought unusually close to millions of us as we witnessed it on our television screens, giving us a sad and direct view of the killings that have been cutting short the lives of so many media workers in all parts of the world.”
Mr. Adler is the third journalist to be killed in Somalia since January 2005 when Kate Peyton of the BBC was murdered. Local radio journalist Duniya Muhyadin Nur was shot dead six months later.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 13 other journalists have been killed in Somalia because of their work since the collapse of President Muhammad Siad Barre’s regime in 1991.
Earlier this month, militias associated with the Union of Islamic Courts drove warlords out of Mogadishu and took control of parts of Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since the fall of President Barre’s regime.
Source: UN NEWS WIRE, June 28, 2006
