Somali comic received death threats before murder

Marshale was aware of the dangers but continued to parody Islamist group al-Shabaab, say friends and colleagues

Abdalle Ahmed in Mogadishu and David Smith in Johannesburg
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 12.24 EDT

A Somali comedian murdered in Mogadishu had received death threats from Islamist militants after dressing up as a woman and a suicide bomber in satirical sketches, friends and colleagues said on Thursday.

Abdi Jeylani Malaq, better known as Marshale, was shot on Tuesday as he returned home from the radio station where he worked in Mogadishu. He was 43 and left behind two wives, one of whom is pregnant, and six children.

Marshale gained huge popularity in Somalia for comedy routines that included lampoons of al-Shabaab, a hardline group linked to al-Qaida that still controls large swaths of the country.

He co-produced and starred in a satirical TV drama Aamineta (Amina), which critiqued al-Shabaab's treatment of women. In it Marshale dressed as a young woman longing to date but complaining that the Islamist group has banned her from speaking to men. Pointing out that it forces young girls to marry its leaders and foreign fighters, Amina decides to flee overseas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/02/somali-comic-marshale-death-threat