Personal Injury Law

Ohio Resident Sued for Torturing Man in Somalia

By Michael

A former high ranking officer in the Somali military, who now resides in Ohio, is the target of an injury lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was tortured in Somalia in 1988 at the hands of the former military official.

The suit was filed against Abdi Aden Magan, who served as a colonel and investigations chief for the National Security Service of Somalia. Magan served under the Somali dictator Siad Barre, according to the Associated Press.

Magan has been accused of authorizing the torture of Abukar Hassan Ahmed, who worked as a lawyer and human rights advocate.

Ahmed, who is now a resident of London, England said within the intentional injury lawsuit that for three months, he was beaten so severely that he feels pain while sitting and he also has trouble controlling his bladder.

The suit said Ahmed is suing because of “severe physical pain or suffering, the threat of imminent death, and the resulting psychological damage that persists to this day.? The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court and does not specify an amount for damages, according to AP.

Andrea Evans, legal director of the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, said that Ahmed?s case is an opportunity for him to let the world know details about what happened to him while in Somalia. Evans also said that several other similar lawsuits have been filed.

?We see it as a much broader call for justice than just financial gain,? Evans said. ?It really is kind of telling history accurately.?

Magan was not immediately available to speak with the AP, and court records did not indicate an attorney working his case.

The injury lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Statute, a law dating back to the 1700s that can allow damages when international laws are broken, as well as the Torture Victims Protection Act.

The torture act allows non-U.S. citizens to file suits for torture or killings that happened outside the U.S., if the person accused of the crimes is living in the U.S. or owns assets that are within the country, according to AP.

The suit claimed that Ahmed was arrested on Nov. 20, 1988 and was held on the accusation that he was a writer for Amnesty International. The suit further alleges that he was given no food or toilet, and that soldiers beat him, choked him and crushed his genitals with metal devices.

Ahmed was released in March 1989, but then he was still harassed by security officers for the following four months until he left Somalia.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on April 27, 2010 (boomark / email).