ByMargaret Stakkestad

Aden Abdi Sheikh was sentenced to death for killing a radio journalist in Somalia last fall.

A spokesman for the government said that this is the first execution in a country where those who kill journalists often escape punishment.

Dangerous for Journalists

Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.Just last year, 18 media staff killed, among them wasHassan Yusuf Absuge.

Absuge reporting of a suicide attack, and it must be why he was killed the next day.

TV2.no has previously told the Somali journalists who dared go in his murdered colleague's funeral, for fear of even being killed.

According to authorities, the radio journalist Hassan Yusuf Absuge shot three times in the head by masked assailants who ran from the area before police arrived.

- The right direction

Last month, Sheikh Aden Abdi was sentenced to death for murder.During the trial it emerged that he belongs to the Islamist group Al-Shabaab, the news agency AP.

Human rights groups have for years called on Somali authorities to do more to protect journalists and put an end to all journalist murders.

SHOT: Young boys ran to to see blood where Aden Sheikh Abdi was executed Saturday.Reuters

The murders of media professionals often occurs in the area where the government has control, and that journalists regard as safe.They need to look constantly be aware of attacks by extremists and other criminals.

The trial against Abdi is the first in which the authorities have been strongly committed to finding perpetrator.

- This is a step in the right direction to end the journalist killings are not prosecuted, says Tom Rhoes, consultant to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

He hopes Saturday's execution gives a clear signal that the killings of journalists will have consequences.