Urgent Alert: Forced Disappearance Of Dr. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden - A Female Medical Doctor In Somaliland

April 23, 2011

To: H.E Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gaboose - Somaliland Minister of Interior

To: Red Cross and Red Crescent Offices in Somaliland and Ethiopia

To: Media

(Hornwatch) Hargeisa - Dr. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden, Somali female medical doctor have been missing since her disappearance in Gabiley district of Somaliland in the Sunday late evening on 17 April 2011. Somaliland Impartial Human Rights Organizations Network (SOHIRA-NET) fears she may be subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

17 April 2011, Dr Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden told her family that she will go to Gabiley district to collect some documents and return back to her home immediately. Unexpectedly her family members told to the human rights researchers from SOHIRA-Net that she had sent A short massage from her mobile cell phone and stated âan armed man wearing civilian clothes had kidnapped me.

Somaliland Impartial Human Rights Organizations Network (SOHIRA-NET) concerns are heightened by persistent reports of torture and other ill-treatment as well as prolonged detention without charge or trial in the Somaliland. Somaliland Impartial Human Rights Organizations Network (SOHIRA-NET) fears that the missed of the female medical doctor Ms. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden in conditions amounting to an enforced disappearance puts her at a great risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

Dr Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden is the owner a private medical center in Xero Awr village in Hargeisa since 2006 when she fled the civil wars in Mogadishu, Somalia.

SOHIRA-Net is deeply concerned about the safety of Dr. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden as her whereabouts remain unknown. SOHIRA-Net fears that she may be subjected to torture, ill-treatment and/or extrajudicial killing. Somaliland intelligence and security services have a well-established track record of using forced disappearances and unlawful deportation of lawful refugees to Ethiopian security. SOHIRA-Net urges the competent authorities to guarantee her physical and psychological integrity at all times, in accordance with international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

According news article published Waaheen newspaper on 21 April 2011 disclosed that Somaliland intelligence had handed to the Ethiopian Intelligence an Ethiopian refugee man called Cabdisalan Mukhtar Haji who lived several years in Somaliland and has a refugee status at the UNHCR Office in Hargeisa (http://waaheen.com/?p=13142).

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Somaliland government:

- Somaliland human rights defenders are request to Somaliland Government to:

- Immediately locate and disclose the whereabouts of Dr. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden;

- Carry out a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the enforced disappearance of Dr. Fahmo Abdi Sh. Aden, the results of which must be made public, in order to bring those responsible before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and apply penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;

- Ensure the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

To the Red Cross and Red Crescent office in Somaliland and Ethiopia:

- Calling for the red cross and red crescent office in Somaliland as well as in eastern Ethiopia to search her the prisons of the two countries;

Suleiman Ismail Bolaleh
NATIONAL SPEAKER
Somaliland Impartial Human Rights Organizations Network (SOHIRA-NET)