Ilaria Alpi

Ilaria Alpi (Rome May 24, 1961 – Mogadishu March 20, 1994) was an Italian journalist killed in Mogadishu, Somalia together with her camera operator Miran Hrovatin. In 2009 Francesco Fonti, a former 'Ndrangheta member, claimed that Ilaria Alpi and her cameraman were murdered because they had seen toxic waste shipped by the 'Ndrangheta arrive in Bosaso, Somalia.

At the time of her murder, she was following a case of weapon and illegal toxic waste traffic in which she believed also the Italian Army and other institutions were involved. Alpi was born in Rome and worked for Italian public television broadcaster RAI.

In the 2002 movie Ilaria Alpi - Il più crudele dei giorni, directed by Ferdinando Vincentini Ornagni, she is portrayed by Giovanna Mezzogiorno.

Biography

After graduating at the high school gymnasium "Titus Lucrezio Caro" of Rome, she graduated in literature after completing language courses and Islamic culture in the Department of Oriental Studies of the Sapienza University of Rome.

Paul Moreira

Paul Moreira (born 1961 near Lisbon, Portugal) is a French journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is based in Paris, France. He has directed several investigative documentaries in conflict zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Israel, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

Paul Moreira has contributed to the emergence of investigative journalism on French television. In 1999, in created "90 minutes" on Canal plus, a European television network. The investigations of his team collected several prestigious French awards. Some of their films like the one about the murder disguised as suicide of Judge Borrel contributed to reopen criminal investigations. Following the success of the show and at the request of the management of Canal Plus, he created a weekly slot dedicated to investigative documentaries: Lundi Investigation. Award winning movies were commissioned and broadcast. Like "Escadrons de la mort : l'école française" by Marie Monique Robin. This film got the award of the political documentary of "Audiovisual Club" of French senate in 2003, best investigative film at FIGRA, award of merit from Latin American Studies Association.

Somalia

Coordinates: 10°N 49°E / 10°N 49°E / 10; 49

Somalia (/səˈmɑːliə, soʊ-, -ljə/so-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال‎ aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال الفدرالية‎ Jumhūrīyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl al-Fidirālīyah), is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on the continent's mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.

Somalia has a population of around 10.8 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have historically inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions. The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni.

Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity). By extension, the word may be metaphorically used to describe toxic effects on larger and more complex groups, such as the family unit or society at large.

A central concept of toxicology is that effects are dose-dependent; even water can lead to water intoxication when taken in too high a dose, whereas for even a very toxic substance such as snake venom there is a dose below which there is no detectable toxic effect. Toxicity is species-specific, making cross-species analysis problematic. Newer paradigms and metrics are evolving to bypass animal testing, while maintaining the concept of toxicity endpoints.

Types of toxicity

There are generally three types of toxic entities; chemical, biological, and physical:

Miran Hrovatin

Miran Hrovatin (1949 in Trieste – March 20, 1994 in Mogadishu) was an Italian photographer and camera operator killed in Mogadishu, Somalia together with the Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi under mysterious circumstances.

Hrovatin belonged to the Slovenian ethnic community of Trieste. He worked before for the agency Alpe Adria then for the agency Videoest of Trieste.

On March 20, 1994, he and Ilaria Alpi were killed in an ambush on their jeep in Mogadishu by a seven-man commando unit after returning from Bosaso, while they were in Mogadishu reporting for Rai 3. With them were a bodyguard who escaped unharmed and disappeared, and the driver Sid Abdi who was also unhurt. Somali citizen Hashi Omar Hassan was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the double murder.

Miran was in Somalia to cover the Somali Civil War and investigate on an illegal traffic of weapons and toxic waste possibly concerning also the Italian Army and other Italian institutions.

In May 2009, Daniel Biacchessi wrote the story of Miran in his book Passion reporter.