Radio Risaala, is an independent radio and website based in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Radio Risaala FM radio 102.2 MHZ and a website www.radiorisaala.com was launched on 24 June 2001 (with the name of IQK Radio) to serve for the all-Somali speaking community in east Africa.
During its 18 hours on air (5:00 AM-11:00 PM), Radio Risaala focuses to educate and entertaining and inform the people of Somalia with accurate and truth-based news.
Radio Risaala broadcasts news in its daily and weekly programs those including; entertainment, peace, culture, education, health, sports, economy and politics.
Radio Risaala is not affiliated with any particular group in the country whether it is political party, religious or racism group.
Our Target audience
Following the capacity of our transmitter and the high-quality programs we deliver, Radio Risaala target audiences are increasingly going high day-to-day with the destination of the regions in the southern part of the country. Today our listeners – more than 3 million, live in Mogadishu (16 districts of the Benadir region with almost three million people), Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle, and some parts of Bay and Hiiran regions .
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In addition, there are more than 90 countries around the globe that audience could reach us on our live streaming channel on the internet during our 18-hours of broadcasting as we regularly publish all of our content on our website www.radiorisaala.com .
Radio Risaala also intends to extend the listening destination across the country in the near future.
OUR VISION
As today’s world becomes a “world of information”, we aspire to become the leader of Somalia media in terms of value, nationwide serving, quality of our employees, and the most updated equipment we use
OUR MISSION
We believe availing from the experiences of our professional journalists will gain tangible work in the field of journalism, especially in Somalia where there has not been law and order for about two decades.
To become the “leading radio” in Somalia has a wide meaning for us, so we are intending to generate the following;-
To bring Excellence work in the field of journalism.
To serve through unity and professionalism.
To provide news, entertainment, and awareness to the Somali-speaking community.
To improve the Somali language as its standard and innovate new ways to upgrade it.
We promote restoring peace to the troubled nation of Somalia to help establish a stable environment with a brighter future.
We encourage achieving good governance and a democratic system in Somalia.
We stand for the voice of the voiceless people and bring out the challenges against vulnerable parties of the society including the women, children, and the minority people in Somalia.
We advocate for better human rights and free speech in Somalia.
We encourage bonding between Somali people who are scattered around the world.
ACTIVITIES OF RADIO RISAALA
Radio Risaala airs both weekly and daily programs including political, social, economical, and environmental which do not reflect to the vision of any particular group in Somalia. Radio Risaala gives a free platform to the different segments of society to express their views whether they are politicians or ordinary people.
Radio Risaala is an independent media organization headquartered in Mogadishu Somalia. Our broadcasting comes through FM 102.2 MHZ and on the internet live streaming www.radiorisaala.comall over the world. We have the capacity to reach our listeners in Mogadishu (Banadir region), Jowhar, Balcad, Mahaday (Middle Shabelle region), Marka, Barawe, Wanlaweyn, Afgoye, Shalanbood as well as Qoryooley town (Lower Shabelle region) , We are welcoming to use Radio Risaala every time.
Relationship with these Organizations:
FAOSO
IST
ICRC
NRC
Ergo Radio
IMS
ARC
CRD
UNOPS Mine Action Programme
UNICEF
IOM
WARDO
SFCC
SCAC
SOPHA
CED
Free Press Unlimited
SOCENSA
and others
Radio Risaala programming hours:
– From 5.00am-11:00p.m
– 7.00am – 7.00pm (most popular hours)
RADIO RISAALA HEADQUARTER
Radio Risaala is based in Mogadishu, Somalia.
El Gab Junction in Hamar Jajab district.
For further information feel free to contact: Managing Director Risaala Media Corporation
Mohamed Abdiwahab:
Radio Risaala broadcast online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Radio Risaala brings you the friendly voices of the community. As a community station, We also have religious programs, sport, local news and interviews etc.
MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) On the afternoon of July 26, 2018 Abdirizak Qasim Iman, a 19-years-old Somali video and photojournalist with the privately owned SBS TV, was returning from a normal assignment at the SIMAD University in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after covering the graduation event there, according to colleagues and family.
On the way to his home a police officer stopped Abdirizak’s bajaj, a three-wheeled auto rickshaw taxi and then shot him on the head resulting Abdirizak’s demise. The body was taken to the police Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) headquarters. The next morning of July 27, the body was buried without any inquiry opened.
“Officers at the CID photographed the body and wrote it on the Occurrence Book. Then they sent the body to the hospital. The hospital confirmed the death was the result of a gunshot on Abdirizak’s head. We buried the body on the next day,” says Qasim Iman Osoble, 60-year-old father of Abdirizak “They [police] did not open any investigation.”
Somalia remains one of world’s most dangerous places to be a journalist. Journalists not only face endless violations and assassinations –their perpetrators almost always get away with it, ensuring the vicious trend continues. Almost all of the 69 journalists — including two in 2020—murdered in the country since 1992, were on assignment.
Abdirizak has once survived from a car bomb as he covered a hotel attack in Mogadishu in 2017. But the assignment he was executing on the day of his death was not a dangerous one, according to his colleague, Abduwahab Adan Abdirahman.
“Whenever a humanitarian news unfolds, he would jump in. On the day of his killing he was covering a graduation event which was normal assignment,” says Abduwahab “He was a charming guy. He never talked about any threats on his life.”
A day after the burial, the journalist’s family filed a murder lawsuit to the military court and requested an honest investigation citing their lack of confidence on the police. The court wrote to the police to ask the killer officer’s whereabouts. The police responded back and said the killer fled the station and that they could not find him. He remains at large until today.
“Since then there was no any communication from the police and the court. Obviously they did not want to arrest the killer,” Qasim adds.
-MILITARY COURT VERDICT-
In November 1, 2018 a military court tried Police Captain, Abdullahi Nur Ahmed in absentia and found him guilty of murdering Abdirizak, sentencing him to five years in prison and a fine of 100 camels, according to a sentencing document from the court. However the murderer still remains in the police payroll.
The family says the government, through the military court, is attempting to make Abdirizak’s death look unintentional without rigorously probing the murder.
Ranked as one of the worst countries in terms of corruption, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Somalia suffers from weak public institutions and instability that directly impact basic security governance. For this reason, the journalist’s family is not willing to pursue the court case any more.
“We are not satisfied with the court sentence. It is biased attempt to divert our inquest for justice. They know the killer well. He continues to get payment from the police. They did not investigate him. They did not bother to arrest until today,” the bereaved Qasim says “Once the lower court makes a verdict, the higher court will uphold the same decision. I have no confidence at all.”
“We anticipated for an honest investigation to take place. We hoped for a justice but we did not get it. Our hopes dashed. We are patient with God,” Qasim adds.
Earlier reports said that at the time of the attack, the journalist was trying to pass a security checkpoint near Mogadishu’s Peace Garden, a public park, but his colleague Abduwahab clarified that Abdirizak was holding his camera- enough to reveal his identity as a journalist at the time of the shooting.
“He was still holding his camera but the police officer shot him. It is widely known that police regard journalists and their cameras as enemies. There was no any justification to shoot Abdirizak. When we reached the site we got the camera, which had contained footage he recorded from the university,” Abduwahab who now works at a local radio in Mogadishu said.
Inside in her narrow house made of corrugated iron sheet walls in Mogadishu’s Hamar Jajab neighborhood, Abdirizak’s mother, Sahra Ismail Ali, 53, holds documents showing his picture and a death certificate from the local hospital. It certifies that “Abdirizak was shot twice on the head”.
“Until today I am mourning for [my son’s death]. My heart is in agony. But it is more painful that we have not get justice served for Abdirizak,” Sahra says as she stumbles over her words.
That is not her only fear. She is also scared for other journalists including her son’s colleagues who are still willing to seek the truth and report for the public interest in a deadly city for journalists.
“Journalists are important for this country. They should be protected and their rights preserved well. If there are no journalists, then we would not have the information we need to be well informed about what is happening in our surroundings,” she emphasizes.
The local journalist rights groups blame the Somali government for its insouciant stance towards the threats and violence Somali journalists face on a daily basis. Without addressing the issue of impunity towards journalists’ murders, the rights groups say, the problem will persist. So far this year two journalists have been killed. None of the murders were properly investigated.
“They kill you and you never know them. Impunity is prevalence in Somalia. Not even that unknown criminals are targeting journalists but also there are known ones,” Abduwahab says.
As this Sunday marks the second anniversary of the young cameraman Abdirizak’s death, his family continues to seek justice. Just last week, Qasim, the father, wrote a letter to the Attorney General’s office requesting the killer be arrested. He is yet to get a response from the Attorney General.
“We expect justice to prevail. The killer is in Galmudug police force. He must be arrested if there is any justice at all,” Qasim concludes.
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This story is part of an investigative grant report supported by the Justice for Journalists Fund (JFJ).