Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim
Somalian freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim has continued to speak out against Somalia’s crackdown on the media despite being detained in January 2013 and later charged and convicted with insulting the government for interviewing a woman who alleged that soldiers had raped her. He spent 66 days in prison before being freed by the Supreme Court.
Journalists in Somalia are under attack for doing their job
Judge releases Somali journalist jailed for interviewing alleged rape victim
Abdiasis Abdinur Ibrahim is a radio journalist working for two private radio stations, Radio Dalsan and Radio Ergo, both broadcasting from Mogadishu. The human rights defender, also known as Koronto, was sentenced to one year of imprisonment on 5 February 2013, following his attempt to investigate the case of a woman who claimed to have been raped by state security forces. On 3 March 2013, an appeals court in Mogadishu upheld the sentencing of human rights defender but reduced his term of imprisonment from one year to six months. On 17 March 2013, Somalia's apex court released Ibrahim from prison and dropped all charges against him.
Somalia remains a highly insecure environment for human rights defenders (HRDs), journalists and humanitarian workers, in spite of the optimism generated by advances in the fight against Al Shabaab, an Islamist armed group that has been fighting government forces for years.
