Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

<strong>Attacks</strong> on the Press in 2010Umuvugizi story alleging government involvement in the shooting of aformer Rwandan army commander in South Africa.Days after the killing, security forces rounded up two suspects andlodged murder charges. Speaking at a press conference, InternalSecurity Minister Moussa Fazil Harelimana said one of the suspects“admitted guilt. … He told the police he committed the act to takerevenge against this journalist, who killed his brother in the 1994 Tutsigenocide,” Agence France-Presse reported. The suspects were convictedon homicide charges in November, but journalists expressed deepskepticism about the government’s case.In 2007, a traditional “gacaca” court had cleared Rugambage of any involvementin the genocide, according to local journalists. Rugambagehad been the target of official persecution over several years becauseof his critical coverage of the government, CPJ research showed.While working as a reporter for the now-defunct independent tabloidUmuco, Rugambage was imprisoned for 11 months in 2005-06 overa story alleging mismanagement and witness tampering in Rwanda’straditional courts.Rugambage, 34, was survived by a wife and a 2-year-old daughter,according to local journalists.Somalia: 2may 4, 2010, mogadishuSheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey, Radio Mogadishu304Three gunmen shot Abkey, a veteran Radio Mogadishu journalist,near his home in the southern Mogadishu district of Wardhigley.Local journalists said Abkey’s body, found in an alleyway, also showedevidence of torture.Journalists at state-run Radio Mogadishu said they had received phonecalls from the Al-Shabaab insurgency claiming responsibility for themurder. Radio Mogadishu journalists believed Abkey was killed simplybecause of his affiliation with the government-run station.Abkey, said to be in his early 60s, served as a researcher and stafftrainer for the station. He joined the profession in 1988 as a reporterfor the former Somali National News Agency and had worked forseveral media houses in Mogadishu, including HornAfrik Radio, theSomali Television Network, and East Africa Radio, the National Unionof Somali Journalists reported.