Jigjiga (Halbeeg)- Inmates at a notorious prison in Ethiopia’s Somali region have been arbitrarily detained and tortured for years, a major human rights group said in a report released Thursday from its offices in the Kenyan capital.
Inmates in Jigjiga Central face horrific reality of constant abuse and torture, with no access to adequate medical care, Human Right group said Thursday.
Thousands of detainees at center with some who have never been charged or convicted of any crime are brutalized and neglected.
In the 88-page report titled “‘We are Like the Dead’: Torture and other Human Rights Abuses in Jail Ogaden, Somali Regional State, Ethiopia,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it has documented a “brutal and relentless pattern of abuse, torture, rape and humiliation with little access to medical care, family, lawyers, or even at times to food” and implicates prison security forces, including the region’s notorious Liyu police.
“Most prisoners are accused of some affiliation with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a banned opposition group, but most never face charges or trials,” said HRW.
“The horrific situation in Jail Ogaden requires immediate and transparent investigation into the actions of the regional president, other senior Somali Region officials, and the Liyu police,” Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at HRW, said in a statement.
HRW said Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took over from Hailemariam Desalegn on June 18 before parliament admitted that security forces have tortured Ethiopians, has yet to tackle Ethiopia’s culture of impunity and ensure accountability for abuses by the security forces.
“I was kept in solitary confinement in complete darkness for most of my [three years in] detention. I was only taken out at night for torture. They [prison officials] did many things to me – they electrocuted my testicles, they tied wire around them, and they put a plastic bag with chili powder over my head. I often had a gag tied in my mouth so I wouldn’t scream too much,” said one of the hundreds of torture victims who was a prisoner and spoke to HRW.
In Jail Ogaden, disease is rampant, basic water and sanitation needs are systematically ignored, while prisoners report deaths in detention following the outbreak of infectious disease. Some former prisoners told Human Rights Watch that corpses sometimes remained in prisoners’ cells for several days.
Abdullahi D.,” a 28-year-old man and former prisoner, told Human Rights Watch “During my time [2013-2014], we had large meetings twice a week. There were various people who would speak to us, including Abdirahman Labagole.
They would bring prisoners up on stage in front of the prisoners and tell them to admit what they have done and to give information.
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