Intentional Torture of Ogadenis (HRW Report) – Islamic Reprisals Against ´Ethiopia´ Certain
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
June 25, 2008
In seven subsequent articles, under the titles ´HRW Report on Ogaden, Contents, Methodology, and Terminology´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65437), ´HRW Report on Ogaden, Part 1: the Background, and the Early US Reaction´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65593), ´HRW Report on Ogaden Reveals the Evilness of the ´Ethiopian´ Tyranny´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65785), ´HRW Report on Ogaden reconfirms the Abyssinian State´s Criminal and Barbaric Nature´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65831), ´´Ethiopia´: Killings, Forced Evacuation, and Destruction of Villages - HRW Report on Ogaden´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65950), ´Racist ´Ethiopia´: the World´s Most Execrable Shame Denounced by the HRW Report on Ogaden´
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/66078) and ´Premeditated Rape of Muslim Women (HRW Report on Ogaden) - ´Ethiopia´: No 1 Enemy of Islam´
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/66188), I re-published preliminary sections, the Report´s Part 1 (the Background), and several sections of the Report´s Part 2 (Violations by the Ethiopian Government), while also referring to the arrogant and unacceptable early US reaction.
On the other hand, in an independent article, under the title ´Comments on the HRW Report on Ogaden, Ancient History of Somalia, Abyssinia, Sudan and Yemen´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65828), I criticized several points pertaining to the historical background of the Report´s topic. In the present article, I re-publish further sections from the Report´s Part 2. In forthcoming articles, I will proceed through further republication of sections of the Report´s Part 2.
Part 2: Violations by the Ethiopian Government
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/10.htm#_Toc200167138
Arbitrary Detention, Abuse and Torture, and Execution of Detainees
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/13.htm#_Toc200167145
For years, the Ethiopian armed forces and other security services, including the police, have detained hundreds of civilians for allegedly being ONLF members or supporters. Periods in detention without charge range from a few days to—more commonly—several months or even years, and detainees are often re-arrested upon release, even if they change locations.
Although persons from all backgrounds and ages—including many elders—have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, government security forces have targeted certain groups – market traders, school and university students, business leaders, and opposition politicians—on suspicion of spying, organizing, or providing financial or other support to the ONLF. Others have been detained simply because they have relatives in the ONLF, or after having disagreements with military officials (such as demanding compensation for vehicles commandeered by the army).
Individuals arrested are held in a variety of detention facilities: military bases, federal police prisons, and local, administrative police facilities. There are also unofficial detention centers. In Jijiga alone there are a range of detention centers, four or five of which were repeatedly mentioned to Human Rights Watch by former detainees who had suffered or witnessed abuses: the Regional Central Prison known as "Jail Ogaden" (because of the large numbers of Ogaadeeni held there) which reportedly holds between 400 to 600 prisoners; kebele and wereda jails, of which the center in Jijiga's kebele 4 is the most notorious—it holds several hundred prisoners in a range of conditions, including underground cells; Jijiga's military bases—Garabcase and the air defense facility called Ayer Hail; and Qumaadaha, a former police training center located in Jijiga's kebele 5, which is reported to hold prisoners of national security interest and political detainees.132
Although there appear to be few judicial protections for detainees across the spectrum of detention facilities in Somali Region, the likelihood of mistreatment appears to be greatest for persons held in military custody, where most detainees find themselves outside the reach of Ethiopia's legal system. Legal requirements limiting the period of detention without charge and requiring judicial oversight of detentions are routinely ignored.133 Almost all persons formerly held in military detention interviewed by Human Rights Watch suffered severe beatings and torture. As described above, detained women and girls have routinely been raped at military bases and Human Rights Watch has also documented several dozen extrajudicial executions in military bases, sometimes carried out in front of other detainees in order to terrorize them into confessing involvement with the ONLF.
The mistreatment of persons in custody is a serious violation of both the laws of war134 and international human rights law.135 Detained individuals must be treated humanely at all times; it is irrelevant whether or not they are members or supporters of an armed opposition group.
While there has been a surge of arrests since the April 2007 ONLF attack on Obole, arbitrary detention and torture in military custody are long-standing problems in Somali Region. Many former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch recounted not only the abuse they suffered in military custody after the April 2007 attack, but also similar arbitrary arrests and abuse they had personally experienced previously, often dating back to the late 1990s and early 2000s.
For example, Amina, a 19-year-old student, told Human Rights Watch how she was detained in 2003 (when she was 15) for nine months, then again in 2006 for six months, and fled Ethiopia when the soldiers came looking for her again following the Obole attack in April 2007. During both periods of military detention, she suffered regular, severe beatings and torture.136 Muhumed, an 18-year-old student, told Human Rights Watch how he had been detained at military camps in Dhageh Medow for three months in 2004 (when he was 15), for 19 days in May 2006, and for nine months in December 2006. He told Human Rights Watch about the beatings and torture he endured during his last detention:
I was taken out from my home the last time and they brought me to the military camp and they beat me for three hours. They accused me of being with the ONLF and giving them help. I told them I was a student….At first they beat me on my head with sticks, and then they beat me with an electric rope all over my body. One was kicking me. Then they tied my hands behind my back. Then they spoke to me for hours, they said if I tell them the truth they would release me. I told them, "I told you the truth already, before you beat me. I have no information about what you are talking about." One of them then kicked me in the face and I lost a tooth. I was in a lot of pain. The next two nights they beat me the same way. They tied me out in the sun for the whole day, next to the guard house.137
Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
Many of the former military detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch claimed that they had been arrested on suspicion of supporting the ONLF without any evidence to support such suspicions.138 As one young man put it bitterly, "Anyone with a bowl of water is suspected of supplying the ONLF."139 A young woman voiced the same sentiment, saying "If you make tea in a teashop, the army would accuse you that the man who bought tea is an ONLF member….There is no way to escape."140
Indeed, the cases investigated by Human Rights Watch indicate that the armed forces arrest those they suspect of supporting the ONLF on the slimmest conjecture, and then attempt to beat and torture confessions. Most of the former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch denied having any connection to the ONLF, although some people mentioned having relatives, often distant relatives, involved in the ONLF. This is an insufficient basis for detention.
The military's broad, unchecked power to arbitrarily arrest, detain, and abuse suspects is illustrated by the case of Ruqiya, a prominent trade woman in Dhagahbur. In March 2007, she was transporting a truckload of grain from Aware to Dhagahbur when soldiers stopped her, demanded she offload the truck, and then commandeered the vehicle. When the vehicle was later destroyed in an ONLF ambush, her husband went to the police to report the loss and ask for compensation. That same night, soldiers took her husband, saying they just wanted to question him and would soon return him. The husband has not been seen again.
When Ruqiya and male elders from her clan went to the army base the next day to inquire about her husband, the soldiers accused her of lying, saying her husband had run off with the ONLF, and promptly detained her at the military camp. That same night, the camp commander viciously beat her:
When the sun came down, the commander came and they put me in a dark hole. He started asking me lots of questions. He then started beating me with a strong stick, on the head and on the legs, and another also beat me with his gun. They were telling me that I was distributing food to the rebels and that they would kill me. They took off my headcover, but they left me with my clothes. They beat me like this for about half an hour. I was terrified that I would be killed.141
Her clan elders finally convinced the military commander to release her so she could be hospitalized for her injuries. However, after her release, she found her store had been closed with a government seal, and that all of her stock had been impounded by the authorities. Afraid she would be "disappeared" like her husband, she fled to Kenya.142
Notes
132 Human Rights Watch interviews, telephone interviews, and confidential communications, November and December 2007.
133 Article 19 of the Ethiopian constitution provides that persons taken into custody should be brought before a court within 48 hours.
134 See Common article 3 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions; Protocol II, art. 4.
135 See ICCPR, art. 7; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 1.
136 Human Rights Watch interview with Amina, Nairobi, September 23, 2007.
137 Human Rights Watch interview with Muhumed, Hargeysa (Somaliland), September 27, 2007.
138 In some of the arbitrary detention cases researched by Human Rights Watch, the only apparent evidence produced by the ENDF (to the detainees) was the fact that other detainees, following beatings and torture, had given their names. "Evidence" obtained under torture is particularly unreliable, as torture victims will often give false information in an attempt to end torture and abuse.
139 Human Rights Watch interview with 28-year-old man from Fiiq zone, (name withheld), Nairobi, September 23, 2007.
140 Human Rights Watch interview with 49-year-old woman, Garissa, September 21, 2007.
141 Human Rights Watch interview with Ruqiya, Nairobi, September 22, 2007.
142 Human Rights Watch interview with Ruqiya, September 22, 2007.
Note
Picture: Labiga erased by the Amhara and Tigray thuggish gangsters, the relatives and friends of butcher Meles Zenawi. This picture is Document 8 of the HRW Report on Ogaden. In a previous article about the HRW Report, I republished Document 7. Comparing both, you will count how many buildings seen on Doc 7 cannot be found on Doc 8. In the HRW Report, following text accompanied the two photographical documents:
DOC 7 Labiga— September 26, 2005 (Lat: 8.118; Long: 43.391) © 2008 DigitalGlobe.
DOC 8 Labiga— February 28, 2008: Almost the entire town (about 40 structures) was likely removed or damaged subsequent to the collection of the previous image, and the grey/white areas are possible evidence of burning. © 2008 DigitalGlobe.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/11.htm#_Toc200167140
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