CAT/C/20/D/65/1997
page 3
2.2
He states that he became politically active when he was a student living
in Morocco between 1987 and 1989, and that he expressed his views writing for
a student magazine. In 1989, he moved to Libya to continue his studies.
While there he states that he organized supply transports, financed by Libyan
interests, to the Front for Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD,
previously AROD) in Djibouti.
2.3
The author states that he returned to Djibouti on 14 January 1991, and
that he was stopped and arrested by security service agents after leaving the
airport. He says that he was taken to the Nagad prison and interrogated
regarding his involvement with the Afar-led FRUD. He says that he was then
taken to the interrogation centre Villa de Christianos where he was tortured
to force a confession regarding his political associations and activities. He
claims to have been subjected to electrical shocks and beatings with a
nail-studded stick. Because of his weakened physical condition resulting from
this treatment, he says that the security service left him outside of a
medical clinic. It is certified that he was hospitalized from 20-30 January
1991. 1
2.4
According to the author, upon his release from the hospital,
on 30 January 1991, he was picked up for more interrogation. This time he was
accused of betraying the Government and was interrogated about his political
activities abroad. He alleges that he was tortured by being forced to sit on
a glass bottle with a broken bottle neck, having a wire inserted into his
penis, having heavy weights hung from his penis and scrotum, being burned with
cigarettes and cigars, being cut with a razor, and being forced to lay in a
bathtub with water dripping at a fixed point on his head. He says that he was
released after nine days of imprisonment and it is certified that he was
hospitalized from 11-20 February 1991.
2.5
He claims that he was arrested, for an unspecified reason,
on 14 April 1991 and held in prison until 1 July 1991. While he says that he
was not tortured during this imprisonment, he claims that he was kept for a
period of time in a cell flooded with sewage water. He says that he was
interrogated throughout this incarceration about his political activities, and
was offered a diplomatic position abroad in exchange for altering his
political views.
2.6
The author claims that he was arrested again on 7 August 1991 while
helping to unload a delivery of weapons intended for FRUD, and that he was
held in detention until 20 August 1991. He states that during this detention
he was interrogated and beaten frequently.
2.7
During his periods of freedom the author claims that he was under
surveillance by the security service, that he was interrogated several times,
and that his home was searched.
2.8
He states that he was able to obtain a national passport and a Swedish
visa with the assistance of a lawyer and of Abdalla Kamil, the former Prime
Minister of Djibouti. He claims that Kamil also negotiated with the
Djiboutian airport police to facilitate his passage through immigration