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Abstract
Ogaden Prison is unthinkable. From the moment you are put there until the moment you are released, you do not know if you are alive or dead. You are tortured and humiliated day and night, you are hungry, [and] you can not sleep because there are so many people. Mohamed, aged 42, who spent five years without charge at Ogaden Prison, in August 2017
In the heart of the eastern city of Jijiga, five minutes from the university, lies the & Og J J J J,,,,. one of the most notorious detention centers in Ethiopia. Jail Ogaden, officially known as the Jijiga Central Prison, is home to thousands of brutalized and neglected prisoners. Many of them have never been charged or convicted for a crime.
Former prisoners described a horrible reality of constant abuse and torture, without access to adequate medical care, to the family, to lawyers or even sometimes to food. Officials undressed and beat prisoners and forced them to commit humiliating acts in front of the entire prison population as a punishment and to instil shame and fear. In overcrowded cells, prison leaders, known as kabbas, beat and harbaded prisoners at night during interrogations, pbaded notes to prison leaders, who then selected others for further punishment. The purpose of the torture and humiliation was to force the prisoners to "confess" their membership in the Liberation Front of Ogaden (ONLF), a banned opposition group.
This report, based on nearly 100 Ogaden interviews, documents torture and other serious abuses, including rape, long-term arbitrary detention, and horrible prison conditions in Jail Ogaden in the United States. Somali regional state in Ethiopia between 2011 and early 2018. Interviewees also included Somali officials and security officials.
Many former prisoners interviewed said they saw people die in their cells after being tortured by officials. The former detainees recounted the rape. The prison guards and the famous Liyu police [“special” police in Amharic] brutalized prisoners, at the request of the regional authorities. The cycle of torture, humiliating treatment, overcrowding, inadequate food, sleep deprivation and lack of health care at Ogaden Prison is consistent with the long-standing collective punishment of the government. people perceived as supporting the ONLF. Human Rights Watch has already documented how the Ethiopian army committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during counter-insurgency operations against the ONLF in 2007 and 2008, including executions extrajudicial, torture and rape.
The Ethiopian government has established Liyu police who have committed a series of serious abuses in the Somali region since 2008. Liyu police report to Somali region president, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, known as Abdi Illey's name
Basic water and sanitation needs are systematically ignored, while prisoners report deaths in custody as a result of the occurrence of an infectious disease. Some former prisoners told Human Rights Watch that corpses sometimes remained in prisoners' cells for several days
. Inmates delivered in their cells without access to trained birth attendants, often in unsanitary conditions. The tragic situation of children, some of whom would have been born in Ogaden prison after being raped by prison guards, is particularly tragic. Former prisoners stated that badfeeding mothers did not receive additional food and that children received no education. Since 2013, prisoners have not been allowed to receive visitors or to receive food or other property from the family.
The release of prisoners is often ad hoc and the length of sentences, when they have them, can have few consequences.
Former detainees said that senior Somali politicians, including Abdi Illey and Somali region security chief and Liyu police chief Abdirahman Labagole, regularly appeared in the prison to talk to the prison population. Many of the worst abusers were Jail Ogaden's prison leaders. Not only do some of these officials appear to have ordered torture, rape and denial of food, but in some cases, former prisoners claimed that they were personally involved in rapes and torture [19659009]. an 11-day evaluation of the prison warden's performance that corroborated many of the types of abuses that former prisoners have experienced at Human Rights Watch. The badessment was filmed at the request of Abdi Illey, and then shared with Human Rights Watch several years later, when an advisor to Abdi Illey left Ethiopia. On the film, the guards detail torturing, raping and extorting money from prisoners, and describe how several top officials of Jail Ogaden have incited them to commit acts of torture and rape.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to conduct investigations into allegations of human rights violations, has inspected Jail Ogaden on numerous occasions since 2011, but he has not been able to There is no publicly available report on these visits. It is unclear what steps, if any, have been taken to hold anyone accountable for the abuses discovered during these inspections. Many former prisoners told Human Rights Watch that they had been prepared by the prison authorities to know what to say and what not to say to the Commission. Those most visibly injured, as well as children and pregnant women, were reportedly held in secret rooms or left prison before the Commission's visits. Those who spoke openly to Commission officials were brutally beaten, sometimes to death, in the days following the visits. The European Court of Human Rights has not responded to our letter asking for information about their work to combat abuse in Ogaden Prison.
The Ethiopian federal system grants considerable autonomy to its regions, including the Somali region, to fulfill many governance functions. The regional detention centers in the Somali region have little federal control and the regional government has neither the will nor the ability to monitor the conditions of detention.
Very few of the former prisoners interviewed stated that they had ever been prosecuted or charged with a crime. Even when prisoners appeared in court, most did not have access to defense lawyers, could not defend themselves adequately, and faced courts that lacked independence and were reluctant to challenge abuses of the law. government. All of this means that the prisoners in Ogaden Prison have almost no remedy.
Torture and impunity for torture are well rooted problems throughout Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch routinely receives reports of abusive interrogations throughout the country using techniques such as violent beatings and water and bad torture, similar to those described by former Jail Ogaden prisoners. To Human Rights Watch's knowledge, it was not reported that the federal government would make anyone responsible for torture, and the courts systematically ignored prisoners' complaints of torture while in detention.
The response of the Ethiopian Government to the demands of the investigation into the allegations of abuse of rights is to affirm that the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) can conduct such investigations, but EHRC investigations have not generally met even the most basic standards of impartiality. There is little transparency around his work. The Government repeatedly rejected requests for independent international investigations into abuses and ignored the repeated requests of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and eight other Special Rapporteurs. United Nations in Ethiopia
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April 2018. Since then, he has pledged to implement progressive reforms and his government has closed the Maekelawi Detention Center. in Addis Ababa, a site known for torture and the abuse of prisoners. He also acknowledged that torture exists in Ethiopia in a speech to parliament in June, a rare admission for an Ethiopian prime minister.
However, until now, the new prime minister has not said how his government will address the larger problem of impunity. torture. While many former prisoners would support the closure of Jail Ogaden, such a move would not address the abusive nature of the region's security forces, the impunity of those who commit serious abuses or weaknesses. of law in the Somali region. Ethiopia should comply with the provisions of its own constitution and fulfill its basic obligations under international human rights law – in particular the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman treatment. and degrading – by systematically dealing with persistent allegations of torture and illegal detention. The new prime minister and senior Ethiopian officials, including in the federal police and army, should publicly and publicly condemn the abuses on the prisoners of Ogaden Prison and other Ethiopian prisons so to send an unambiguous public message. Support such announcements with disciplinary action and prosecution of officials who engage in such practices.
Faced with numerous and horrific allegations, Dr. Abiy Ahmed and Parliament should establish a Federal Commission of Experts for the Somali region. The Commission should investigate abuses at Ogaden prison and recommend specific officials, regardless of rank, to face criminal charges of ill-treatment of prisoners. This should include specific investigations of senior officials in the Somali region such as President Abdi Illey and current police chief Liyu Abdirahman Labagole
In addition, authorities should allow access to the prison Ogaden and all other detention centers. , including humanitarian and human rights organizations, members of the diplomatic community, human rights mechanisms of the African Union and UN mechanisms such as the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Human Rights. torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Prime Minister Abiy should also take immediate steps to thoroughly reform Liyu's police and hold senior Liyu and Somali government officials accountable for serious human rights violations, including torture in the country. Ogaden Prison.
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