Abdiaziz Ali

Beats Covered:
Local or Foreign:

Abdiaziz Ali, a journalist for the Somali station Radio Shabelle, was walking home at around 6:10 p.m. on September 27, 2016, after visiting his parents in the Yaqshid district of Mogadishu, when two men on motorbikes pulled over and shot him several times, killing him, the BBC reported.

A former colleague of Abdiaziz’s at the Shabelle Media Network told CPJ that the journalist had taken the day off to visit his relatives. He said that Abdiaziz’s most recent work was a series of radio programs about the plight of the tens of thousands of Somalis forced to flee their homes in the long conflict with the militant group Al-Shabaab.

The 30-year-old hosted a morning talk show that often featured various topics, including corruption and the government’s efforts to confront Al-Shabaab.

Somali authorities have repeatedly shut down Radio Shabelle and arrested its staff, and its journalists have repeatedly been targeted and killed, CPJ research shows.

Abdiaziz was newly married, his colleague said, and had no children.