Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Washington, D.C., have deported a former high-ranking Somali military officer who they say carried out torture, terrorism and other forms of torture. Human rights violations against civilians.
71-year-old Officer Yusuf Abdi Ali – also known as “Toké” – has been deported from the United States by US security forces. ICE officials He was a lieutenant colonel in the Somali National Army and commander of the 5th Brigade in northwest Somalia during the Siad Barre dictatorship from 1987 to 1989.
As a high-ranking officer in the Somali National Army, Ali allegedly supervised terrorist activities against the Isaaq clan in northwestern Somalia. He is believed to have committed a range of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention.
(immigration and customs)
According to a December 23 statement by ICE, the Somali National Army committed numerous human rights violations against civilians in those years, including the execution of suspected political opponents, the burning of entire towns, the illegal use of land mines, and the destruction of water tanks. To target the civilian population.
In February 2024, A.J Ministry of Justice The immigration judge issued a 65-page decision determining that Ali personally participated in torture while commanding the Somali National Army. Under the decision, Ali ordered soldiers under his command to arrest, torture, and assist in extrajudicial killings. The judge ordered his deportation to Somalia.
The US-based law firm the Center for Justice and Accountability, which represented Farhan Warfa, one of Ali's alleged victims, describes him as “one of the most ruthless leaders” of Barre's Somali dictatorship. Warfaa was kidnapped as a teenager by soldiers under Ali's command, held for several months, repeatedly beaten, and eventually shot and left for dead.
Soldiers patrol outside the Al Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, August 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsama)
Rafaa ended up surviving, and in 2019, a federal civil court in Alexandria, Virginia, found Ali responsible for his torture.
Ali was living as a permanent resident in Springfield, Virginia, until Homeland Security Investigations She arrested him in November 2022.
“The United States will no longer be a safe haven for those who commit human rights violations, and we will continue our efforts to achieve justice for the victims of these crimes,” said Russell Hott, acting executive assistant director of the Washington, D.C., office. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.
“Although justice was delayed in this case, it ultimately prevailed,” Hott said.
