Mustafa Haji Abdinur, Somalia, Agence France-Presse

CPJ to honor five international journalists

New York, September 23, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor courageous journalists from Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan with its 2009 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November.

Mustafa Haji Abdinur , has seen six of his colleagues die this year on the streets of Mogadishu—caught in the crossfire of battling insurgents, or gunned down for their work. He is one of a very small number of courageous journalists still working in Mogadishu despite ongoing violence and a shattered economy.

Mustafa Haji in Mogadishu

As a correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Mogadishu and editor-in-chief of independent radio station Radio Simba, Haji faces danger and threats on a daily basis to report from Mogadishu’s once-bustling Bakara Market, which has become a stronghold of insurgents in the war-torn city. In 2007, with the help of a small businessman, Haji started Radio Simba in Mogadishu, which now reaches more than 2 million listeners across southern and central Somalia. His work for AFP and several other Western media outlets has made him a target of both Islamic insurgents and government authorities. He was beaten by insurgents for assisting two Japanese journalists from the Kyoto News Agency and arrested by government security forces for airing an interview with an Islamic militant leader of the Al-Shabaab insurgency. Despite receiving death threats and seeing his colleagues from Radio Shabelle and HornAfrik killed, Mustafa has insisted on staying in Mogadishu to report the unfolding Somali crisis, even while having to move his family three hours north for their safety.