Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 22. Oktober
2006 / Time Line October 22, 2006
Version 3.5
21. Oktober 2006, 23. Oktober 2006
10/22/2006
UNHCR: Somalia: National Security Service Prison (Godka),
Mogadishu,
Somalia
Query:
Somali NSS Prison structure, senior officers, torture.
Response:
The RIC Staff researched the Somali National Security Service
Prison in Mogadishu referred to as Godka. This response is not, and
does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
The Benadir Region National Security Service (NSS) Headquarters in
Mogadishu is mentioned in an Amnesty International report, Somalia:
A Long-term Human Rights Crisis, as the torture center in the
country. It is also known as Godka and has a reputation for being a
notorious prison in Somalia. It was administered by the NSS during
the Siad Barre administration and prisoners were held in
underground cells in permanent solitary confinement. This prison
was referred to as "The Hole" denoting that it was a place from
which it was difficult to escape. It was known as a place of
torture, forms of which included severe beatings, electric shocks,
submersion in water, wounding with knives, sexual threats and death
threats. One measure of torture described by former prisoners is
the Mig - in which victims are bent double, tied up and beaten;
another is water torture - the victim is tied up and submerged in
water until nearly drowned - either dipped head first into a bucket
or tank of water, or else put in the sea tied up in a sack.
According to this report:
The evidence reveals a consistent pattern of torture, lengthy and
often arbitrary detention of suspected political opponents of the
government and unfair trials of political defendants. Prisoners
have been kept for years in harsh conditions, incommunicado and
without proper medical treatment. Many prisoners have been executed
after unfair, frequently summary trials, and many unarmed civilians
have been executed extrajudicially by the security forces.
An Amnesty International report, Somalia: Detention Without Trial,
describes the prison as having mostly small cells without having
sufficient room to stand up straight or stretch. The NSS, a state
security agency, was established in 1970 with the responsibility of
arresting and interrogating those suspected of a security offense.
It is reported in another Amnesty International report, "Somalia: A
Long-term Human Rights Crisis," that the NSS was established as
part of a series of legal measures by the new military government
in its first year of office as a mechanism to suppress and punish
any opposition to its rule.
Responses To Information Requests (REFINFO - SOM2419) reports on
the fate of an unsuccessful asylum applicant who was returned to
Somalia in 1987 and was incarcerated in the Godka Prison. This
prisoner’s account of life in the prison is also detailed in
an Amnesty International publication, Somalia: Torture. He alleges
being mistreated and tortured while in Godka NSS Prison. He
mentions that he recognized two former asylum-seekers among 20
prisoners who were given prison sentences of 3 to 15 years for
having applied for asylum in other countries. The Amnesty
International report notes that many accounts of torture at the
Godka Prison were communicated to them. Torture or ill-treatment
was apparently intended as punishment for political opponents. It
was considered routine by the NSS and the Military Police and was
sanctioned by the officials in charge of the prison. The senior
officer in charge of the prison was aware of the torture since his
subordinates reported directly to him based on the following
statement by the former prisoner mentioned above.
The torture was inflicted by the NSS officials at the instruction
of Lieutenant Y who was reporting directly to the colonel in charge
of the prison. This colonel was also the head of the NSS, Police
and CID (Criminal Investigation Department) for the eastern region
of Mogadishu
10/22/2006
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