In honor of World Press Freedom Day, the International Press Institute announces a week-long series of correspondent diary entries from journalists working in two of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists.

Every day this week, IPI will publish another entry from each of the reporters, Iqbal Athas from Colombo, Sri Lanka and Mohammed Ibrahim from Mogadishu, Somalia.

Somalia and Sri Lanka were amongst the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world last year. Those who murder reporters in both countries enjoy complete impunity, and journalists must deal with conflict, violence and the threat of death on a daily basis.

Twenty three journalists have lost their lives in war-torn Somalia over the past decade. Nine were killed in 2009 alone, making it by far the deadliest country in Africa for journalists. Many of these journalists were targeted by insurgents for their work in an effort to control the information that Somalis receive over the radio, a medium that serves as a parallel battlefield on which the UN-backed government and Islamist insurgents struggle for control.

In Sri Lanka, the long-standing civil war between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority that ended last year claimed the lives of tens of thousands. The press also suffered as journalists who wrote critically about government policy were harassed, threatened and even killed for their work.

Two journalists were killed in Sri Lanka in 2009, including Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, and Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, a freelance journalist. J.S. Tissainayagam, who edited the North Eastern Monthly and wrote for the Sunday Times, was handed a shocking 20 year prison sentence under anti-terrorism legislation in  2009 for criticizing the government’s assault on Tamil Tiger rebels, and the civilian suffering their methods caused.

Our Correspondents:

Iqbal Athas, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Iqbal Athas is the Defence Correspondent and Consultant Editor for The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka’s largest independent weekly. He also reports from Colombo for CNN, and is Colombo correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly and The Sunday Times (UK).

Athas has over 45 year of experience working as a journalist in Sri Lanka.

Athas began his career at the (now defunct) Sun and Weekend newspapers in 1965, covering Tamil political parties. He became one of a handful of Sri Lankan journalists to have a ringside view of the transition of Tamil moderation into militancy.

As one of Sri Lanka’s leading investigative reporters Athas has often been a target for exposing corruption and malpractices. For his work, he has been threatened with death, harassed, intimidated and has been the victim of slander campaigns.

He is the only Sri Lankan member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and has received several international awards for his work.

Mohammed Ibrahim, Mogadishu, Somalia

Mohammed Ibrahim started his journalism career as a columnist for the social beat newspaper CISHQI Weekly in 1998. In his words, his work there was his “attempt to change the focus of a society ravaged by clan warfare for years into a world of entertainment and happiness.”

He worked for several local and international media outlets including Radio Shabelle and the Pan African News Agency (Panapress) as a photo reporter. He has worked for The New York Times as a stringer since 2006.

Mohammed has been a press freedom and trade union rights advocate and has worked with local and international media advocacy organizations including the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), the International News Safety Institute and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). He believes in freedom for Somalia’s media, which operates in a multifaceted and difficult situation.  Since 2005 he has been the Press Freedom Coordinator of NUSOJ.

As a result of his work, Mohammed has been shot at and has received regular death threats by telephone since September 2007, warning him to leave the country. He insists on remaining in Mogadishu to let the outside world know what’s happening.