Ahmed v. Magan
Torture of Human Rights Defenders in Somalia Under the Siad Barre RegimeIN BRIEF | BACKGROUND | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
IN BRIEF
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio -- On April 21, 2010, CJA filed suit against Colonel Abdi Aden Magan, former Chief of the Somali National Security Service Department of Investigations during the military dictatorship of Siad Barré, on behalf of former law professor and human rights attorney Abukar Hassan Ahmed, who suffered brutal torture under Colonel Magan’s orders.
Colonel Magan is a member of the same favored Marehan sub-clan as Siad Barré.
BACKGROUND
In 1969, the Somali Armed Forces, led by Major General Siad Barre, toppled the democratically elected government of the new nation of Somalia. The National Security Service (“NSS”) was created as part of a series of measures designed to suppress and punish opposition to the Siad Barre regime. During the 1970s and 1980s, the NSS, carried out widespread atrocities against suspected opponents of the military dictatorship. Human rights reports implicate the NSS in the systematic use of extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and arbitrary and prolonged detention.
The torture of Abukar Hassan Ahmed, a constitutional and international law professor at Somali National University detained for possessing a copy of an Amnesty International report, is an emblematic case of the brutality and impunity of the NSS during the Siad Barre regime. Mr. Ahmed was an outspoken critic of the regime’s abuses of the Somali Constitution’s protections of human rights and freedom of expression.
Colonel Abdi Aden Magan, (“Magan”), served as Chief of the NSS Department of Investigations based at NSS Headquarters in the north of the capital city of Mogadishu from approximately 1988 to 1990. As a member of the same favored Marehan sub-clan as Siad Barré at the head of the NSS Department of investigations, Magan directed the interrogation and torture of civilians perceived as opponents of the Siad Barre regime in order to terrorize the civilian population and deter it from supporting the growing opposition movements.
Magan came to the U.S. in 2000. He has lived openly in Columbus, Ohio since then. The plaintiff in this case was subjected to brutal torture under Magan’s direct orders:
Abukar Hassan Ahmed was arrested by NSS officers under Magan’s command, who confiscated the copy of an Amnesty International report he was carrying and transported him to the NSS Department of Investigations in the unventilated basement of NSS Headquarters. He was held in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell and his left wrist was tightly handcuffed to his right leg for twenty-four hours a day, except during interrogations. The NSS officers first accused him of being a writer for Amnesty International and threatened to kill him if he did not confess. He was subsequently interrogated by Magan. During this interrogation, Magan accused him of being a member of an opposition group established while he was in detention. Magan told him that if he did not confess to being a member of this group, the NSS would torture him and obtain his confession through torture. Mr. Ahmed was brutally tortured that same night. Read more . . .
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Complaint & Pre-Trial Motions
Ahmed v. Magan was brought before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court of Ohio on April 21, 2010. The complaint accuses Magan of command responsibility and personal responsibility for torture; cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; and arbitrary detention. This civil action was brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). The case was filed jointly by CJA and the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, working on a pro bono basis.
