MOGADISHU: Hassan Hanafi Haji, a former journalist accused of belonging to Al-Shabaab and involvement in the killings of five Somali journalists, is tied to a wooden post as he is prepared to be executed by firing squad. — AP

MOGADISHU: A former media officer for the Somali Islamist group Al Shabaab was publicly executed by a government firing squad yesterday for ordering the death of six journalists, court officials said. Hassan Hanafi, who arranged news conferences for the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group when the militants controlled the capital Mogadishu, admitted during his trial to personally killing one journalist in Somalia.

“Today, the court fulfils the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists,” Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, told reporters at the scene yesterday. A masked Hanafi was tied to a pole before government forces opened fire at an execution field at a police training camp, according to witnesses. Since 1992 a total of 59 journalists have been killed in Somalia, according to industry body, the Committee to Protect Journalists.