A man blamed for organising the killing of several journalists in Somalia has been sentenced to death.

A Mogadishu military court Thursday sentenced Mr Hassan Hanafi Haji to death for helping the Al-Shabaab militants kill five reporters.

Mr Haji, also a journalist, aided the Islamist militants by identifying possible targets amongst his colleagues between 2007 and 2011.

He was reportedly seized by security forces at the border between Kenya and Somalia in December 2014.

Mr Haji told the Somali National Television (SNTV) Dilaaga wariyeyaasha’ (the killer of journalists) programme in a recent interview that he was involved in the killing of many journalists.

Among several other deadly missions, Mr Haji was implicated in the murder of Sheikh Nur Abkeey, a producer with Modish (Mogadishu Radio), a state run broadcaster.

He also played a role in the murders of Mr Mahad Ahmed Elmi, the director of Capital Voice in Mogadishu, and Mr Ali Iman Sharmarke, the director of Horn Afrik Media also in the city in 2007.

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Mr Haji was known to many in the media who became victims of murder because he was working for Idaacadda Quraanka Kariimka (IQK), a Mogadishu broadcaster with religious leanings.    

He also worked for Radio Andalus, the Al-Shabaab's mouthpiece in Somalia.

More than 25 journalists have been murdered in Somalia since 2007, the Committee to Protect Journalists says.