A/HRC/13/42*
page 80
and Mohamed Ezzoueck. The latter, a British national, was detained on 20 January 2007 in
Kiunga village, Kenya, after crossing the Somali-Kenyan border and then transferred to Nairobi,
where he was held in three different locations. Mr. Ezzoueck reported having been detained in
Kenya for about three weeks and then transferred to Somalia, where he was held for a few days
before being transferred, via Nairobi, back to London. According to his testimony, he was
interrogated by a Kenyan army major and Kenyan intelligence service officers, FBI officers and
British security services officers, and repeatedly asked about his involvement with terrorist
groups, including Al Qaida.307 Mr. Makhtal, an Ethiopian-born Canadian, was arrested on the
border between Kenya and Somalia on 30 December 2006 by intelligence agents and held at a
police detention centre. He was subsequently transferred by car to a prison cell in Gigiri police
station in Nairobi. On 21 January 2007, the Kenyan authorities sent him to Mogadishu. On the
following day, he was taken to Addis Ababa by an Ethiopian military plane. He was then held
for approximately 18 months incommunicado in Mekalawi federal prison, often in solitary
confinement and in poor conditions, then ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment by the High
Court of Ethiopia.308
156. In a letter dated 23 May 2007, the Government of Ethiopia informed the relevant special
procedures mandate holders that the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia had handed
over to Ethiopia 41 individuals captured in the course of the conflict in Somalia; most of these
detainees had been released. Only eight of the detainees remained in custody by order of the
court. The Government also noted that “the allegation that there are more than seventy others in
addition to those named in the communication is false, as are the allegations that the detainees
are held incommunicado, and that they might be at risk of torture.”309 However, in September
2008, Human Rights Watch published a report stating that at least 10 detainees were still in
Ethiopian custody, and the whereabouts of others were unknown. 310
7. Djibouti
157. The experts received information proving that a detainee in the CIA secret detention
programme, Mohammed al-Asad, had been transferred by Tanzanian officials by plane to
Djibouti on 27 December 2003.311 In Djibouti, Mr. al-Asad was detained for two weeks in secret
detention, where he was interrogated by a white English-speaking woman and a male interpreter,
mostly on his connections to the al-Haramain foundation. The woman identified herself as
American. Mr. al-Asad’s own recollection is consistent with his having been held in Djibouti.
307
Interview with Mohamed Ezzouek (annex II, case 10).
308
Interview with Bashir Makhtal. (annex II, case 16).
309
A/HRC/7/3/Add.1, para. 71.
310
Human Rights Watch, “Why Am I Still Here?”, op. cit.
311
High Court of Tanzania at Dar es Salaam, criminal application No. 23 of 2004, Abdullah
Salehe Mohsen al-Asad vs. Director of Immigration Services exparte Mohamed Abdullah Salehe
Mohsen Al-Asaad counter affidavit, 30 June 2004.
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