Sagal Salad Osman

Sagal Salad Osman, also known as Sagal Osman, (ca. 1992 – June 5, 2016), a Somali producer and journalist for Radio Mogadishu in Mogadishu, Somalia, was the second female journalist killed within six months in Somalia, one of the most deadly countries for journalists. It is believed that Al-Shabaab, a militant group who is connected to Al-Qaeda, is responsible for her death.

On Sunday, June 5, 2016, Osman had just finished a meeting to prepare for her final exam and went with her friends to a restaurant away from Plasma University, when she was murdered at around 3:30 pm. She was gunned down by three unidentified armed men with a pistol outside the front gate of her university in Mogadishu's northwestern neighborhood of Hodan. She was rushed to the hospital, but died on the way. Many of her colleagues went to identify her body. According to Ali Abdulkadir, "they had no idea why Osman was killed". Somali security forces collected her body from the scene. The police heard the gunshots from where Osman was shot and rushed to the scene. By the time they got there, the gunmen had already escaped. No one was ever arrested for the crime or claimed responsibility for the murder.

Osman was the first female journalist killed in 2016, but was the second female murdered within six months. Since 1992, there has been more than 60 journalists murdered in Somalia, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media workers. The deadliest year by far for journalist in Somalia has been in 2012 when 18 media workers were killed. Between 2007 and 2015, about 45 Somali journalists were killed.