A former journalist had been sentenced to death by a Somali court for the murder of six local journalists.
Hassan Hanafi is a former media officer for the Somali-based Islamist group al –Shabaab, and is believed to have been the one who arranged news conferences in the years when the militants controlled the capital Mogadishu.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.
Somalia was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and has since been struggling to rebuild.
Hasan Ali, chairman of the Somali military court, told reporters that Hassan Hanafi had admitted to killing one reporter and had been found guilty of killing five others.
“He will be put to death as soon as possible,” Ali said.
Hanafi, 30, revealed that he joined the Islamists group in 2008 when he was working as a journalist for a local Somali broadcaster.
He was arrested in 2015 in neighbouring Kenya before being returned to Somalia for trial.
The former journalist was promoted to an al-Shabaab commander in 2009.
