Ayrotv.com-Djibouti-For seven nights and seven days, I was bathed, the mop constantly sprinkled with bleached water sometimes with whiskey, not to forget the electric shock sessions, this is the daily diet I was subjected to. With unimaginable sadism, torturers chose the most sensitive parts of my body. As soon as I fainted, they sent me three or four electrical discharges to bring me back to life and the torture was even more beautiful.
Inhumane to the end, it was worth waiting for any kind of attention.
A thousand times I prayed to Allah to spare my life, to put an end to my suffering. No one could ever imagine what I endured during that horrible week in October 1990. The torturers, loyal to their masters and equal to themselves, gave themselves joy.
One of them even told the others that they should take advantage of it, that they should not have mercy, that it had been a long time since they had such a nice occasion to show the extent of their torture repertoire. I recognize this one today, and often run into it in town.
Sometimes we stare. He probably expects me to jump on him for revenge, while I wonder how this ordinary man, who looks so similar to the rest of us Djibouti, can inflict such atrocities on his fellow men.
By the way, I know them all. To fulfill their dirty needs, they get drugged with drugs and whiskey whose empty bottles are then used for torture. The only coins needed were an empty suitcase, a typewriter and a list used for the family collection (in Somali Qadhan).
Under torture, most of us were ready for anything. Some were reporting friends of mabraze, others are talking about gun stash somewhere… The most pathetic ones even named their own brothers, sisters or parents.
Situation that will generate the raffle of more than 200 people. On October 10, after a week of relentless torture, the administrative investigation began. Fifteen of us (including myself) “gun suppliers” were arrested, and judged as the most “dangerous”.
Our torturers wanted to register a mea culpa for the establishment of the P.V. intended for judges. What was done because it was the only way out that allowed us to rush the trial. This macabre place will always remind me: powerlessness, rage, and hatred.
On October 11th, heading to court. We are exactly 24 people to be taken. A dozen tortured including four “terrorists” considered the most dangerous and another dozen chosen at random. Remembering in extremes that, following the statements of the eyewitnesses of the attack, among the alleged terrorists there were no beards, the police officers took, dare-dare, one of our beards to the barber and retrieved the hair to hand them over to the judges.
Surprisingly, our trial mobilized a riot of security agents placed all around the courtroom, on a perimeter of 500 meters, not forgetting the escort of 50 armed cops to the teeth, which reminded the legendary trials of the Red Brigades.
In the courtroom, the magistrates find it difficult to conceal their emotions in front of the prisoners’ physical condition. Indeed, none of us were able to sit, let alone stand in front of the praetory, because of the misfortunes endured. In this regard, two policemen were, in fact, mobilized to keep up the one who would be invited to the bar.
For proof, the cops always had the empty suitcase, the typewriter, the Qadhan list and now the beard hairs. Immediately after the presentation of the pieces of conviction, you could read, without any difficulty, on the judges’ faces the astonishment. One after another, we’ve all dropped all the accusations against us.
We pointed out to the judges that the confessions contained in the minutes were obtained under torture. For my part, I insisted that I was not even in Djibouti the night of the attack and that the PAF stamps on my passport can attest to my absence for three months. But all our efforts were in vain and could not convince the judges who, in fact, knew the verdict in advance.
Which verdict led us, as provided in the scenario, directly to Gabode without giving any other specificity. At noon, we found ourselves twelve in Gabode, the rest relaxed under temporary liberty. Insults, various humiliations, rebukes punctuate our welcome in Gabode. This bad reception was made by the prison staff who sincerely believed our crimes. Our arrival will upset the prison’s habits.
The semi-freedoms of prisoners at the end of their sentence and benefiting from large facilities of movement outside and especially those we share the same tribe were closely monitored.
The three “terrorists” and I took possession of cell No. 12 designed for great criminals and where handcuffs are strict day and night. Bullies, we have to call them that, took great pleasure in repressing us and kept for themselves all the interesting things, in their eyes, that our poor parents passed on to us.
The toughest of these, I’ll always remember, was a police corporal who repeatedly repeated “Our State” alluding to his tribe. I know his name. Bullies were extremely nasty to us because of TV and radio where various state personalities sued to sink us and the entire community we came from. They were often heard saying “ABEESO FAR LO TAAGEY.. »
These pressures were added to the inherent problems of our health. For over a month and despite our numerous injuries from torture, we were not allowed to go to the infirmary. We had to wait a month for the visits to be granted. Our parents were able to provide us with the necessary medicines.
It was in this unhealthy atmosphere that we met a young Ethiopian, in semi-freedom, who gave us stunning revelations. This young man could swear he knew terrorists.
He allegedly met them at the Djibouto-Ethiopian border in Dawanleh precisely, the night of the attack and during their flight to Ethiopia. We wondered what could prompt him to make these revelations that, as they contradicted the official version, could cause him a lot of problems.
In fact, he imagined taking advantage of these revelations that, according to him, should interest the French authorities. It was bad for him, he triggered the anger of the bullies who made him see all colors. Considering these statements as greetings, we wrote, through our parents, to the judges who immediately summoned the young man. This one confirmed what he said despite the threats from the policemen accompanying him to court.
More dangerous for him, he recognized among twenty photographs those of the real perpetrators of the attack. In vain, all these gestures gave no effect and remained without consequence. And the young Ethiopian was not seen again.
Our discouragement was total, our morale was zero, even more so that our lawyer, Master AREF, joined us in Gabode for a case as dark as ours. Our calvary continued and we lost all hope until the day when, to our pleasant surprise, we are relaxed without explanation. Suddenly it seems all the charges have flown away.
Despite all suspicions, we have not received anything financial or moral compensations to date. We haven’t even had an official announcement of our innocence like when we were in our impeachment.
The matter is current and may come to an end.
Some of the authors would be locked up but the real sponsors are at large.
I wait from Allah for justice to be done
Cf : “Horizon” Journal
The most cited torturers are:
Lt colonel Hoche Robleh
Colonel Mahdi Sheikh
Captain Iftin
Captain Ladieh
Lieutenant Mohamed Adoyta
Attorney General Tane
L’aspirant Haroun …
By. Aqoonyahan Mohamed Qayaad, United Kingdom
