Samatar, Monster Next Door

[Jacaylbaro]

For many, mention of Somalia conjures images of a smoldering Blackhawk helicopter and AK-47-wielding pirates loaded onto an antique skiff.

 

What may not come to mind as quickly is the idea that the tipping point for Somalia’s downward spiral into an international no-go zone may have come decades before U.S. troops landed on a Somali beachfront in the mid 1990s. It may have come during the regime of military dictator Siad Barre.

 

Barre and the men under him have been accused by the United Nations of committing horrific war crimes throughout the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s that the country is still reeling from.

 

Like citizens of other countries ravaged by brutal regimes, many refugees who survived Barre’s rule came to America to start over and live quietly among the population.

 

But shockingly, along with refugees and victims of war crimes, some alleged war criminals themselves have emigrated to the United States, escaping retribution for the monstrous acts they may have committed at home.

 

Men accused of human rights abuses from Somalia to Venezuela have laid their own claims to the American dream and now enjoy the same freedoms they’re accused of trying to take away from their own people. It may seem impossible, but one of these men — some allegedly responsible for mass murder, torture and the destruction of entire populations — might literally be living next door.

 

Bashe Yousuf was one of the lucky ones. He survived Barre’s notorious use of summary execution, rape, torture and imprisonment without trial to control what the dictator viewed as a dissident population in the northwest part of Somalia, today known as Somaliland. Yousuf was a businessman in Hargeisa, the largest city in Somaliland. The area was particularly targeted by the regime for destruction. Along with his work in business, Yousuf said he was part of a group of community workers trying to clean up hospitals and obtain medical supplies. Yousuf claims soldiers under the command of Barre’s minister of defense, Gen. Mohammed Samantar, arrested him after his group’s actions were deemed acts of political defiance. “The government — you know, took it as we were a political organization trying to challenge their power and put us all in jail,” Yousuf said in a recent interview with ABC News.

‘The Worst Torture … Is Isolation’

 

Yousuf said he was subjected to beatings, electric shocks and waterboarding. Yet following what Yousuf said was months of torture, he was subjected to perhaps the worse form of punishment: six years of solitary confinement in a windowless cell. “The worst torture that a person can take is isolation,” Yousuf said. “Because you think so much, and the things that you think is the worst things that happened to you in all your life. You never think about anything good. All your nightmares haunt your every minute, every second.” Yousuf said he would provoke the guards to drag him outside the cell to beat him, just for the opportunity to have a moment outside. “Just to see the sky, and the stars,” he said. Yousuf managed to survive those six years, and suddenly, as quickly as he had been arrested and thrown into jail, he said, he was released and pardoned. By the time the Barre government collapsed in 1991, throwing the country into deeper chaos, Yousuf was living in America as an American citizen working to forget his past, yet still haunted by nightmares of his ordeal.

 

“I wake up and sweat almost all night sometimes,” Yousuf said, “because I’m scared.” In 1998, Yousuf’s nightmare came to life. Mohamed Samantar, Somalia’s prime minister by that point, escaped the collapse of the Barre regime and eventually made his way into the Unites States. Samantar settled in a split-level house in the Washington D.C. suburbs. “I couldn’t believe it, that somebody who has done so much harm to so many people could be living in the United States,” Yousuf said. Yousuf said Samantar was at the helm of the atrocities committed in Somaliland. Samantar’s attorney, however, denied those claims, saying that Samantar was received at the White House while in office and was granted asylum in the United States in 1997. “He’s somebody who seems to be a wonderful family man,” said Julian Spirer, the attorney. “He’s very much the sort of person you would want to have as a neighbor.”

Subject to U.S. Law?

 

But Yousuf isn’t buying it. He, along with four other Somalis subjected to torture and human rights abuses, filed a civil suit with the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) against Samantar. The suit seeks to hold the former general responsible for alleged abuses as the head of the Somali regimes’ military. “The issue here is whether Gen. Samantar is held to be subject to U.S. laws while he’s living in this country,” said Pamela Merchant, executive director of the CJA. According the Merchant, Samantar is one of possibly 1,000 alleged war criminals living here in the United States. The CJA’s main mission is to hold the suspects responsible for the atrocities they are alleged to have committed in their foreign countries. “I think the first time you realize that somebody’s living in your community that was responsible for serious human rights abuses, it can be shocking,” Merchant said. According to his family, Samantar is gravely ill, but his legal team led by Spirer contends his innocence on the charges. “There hasn’t been any proof yet. At this point these are strictly allegations,” Spirer said. Spirer said Samantar most likely was aware of the atrocities being committed in Somaliland, but there was very little he could do about them. “Did he know that these were going on?” Spirer asked. “I expect he did know they were going on. If the question is, could he do anything about them? There was probably a very limited amount that he could do.”

 

Merchant disagreed with that assumption.

 

“He was in charge of the military,” she said. “He was the person who could stop it.”

 

But no matter what Samantar’s involvement may have been, a hard truth looms: Legally, it may not matter.

 

“We have a policy in this country, it’s actually established in law, that our courts are not available to prosecute or hold liable foreign officials for acts done in their official capacity,” Spirer said.

 

In 2007 a district judge ruled that Samantar had immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and dismissed CJA’s lawsuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned that decision, ruling that the law only applies to foreign states, not individuals.

 

Samantar next appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which could hand down a ruling in the early summer. A major precedent could be set for trying officials — including our own officials — for war crimes.

 

For Yousuf, the case is about simple justice, and getting his day in court to confront a man he believes victimized so many.

 

“So many people died at the hands of this man,” Yousuf said. “I want justice. That is all.”

 

 

By CHRIS CUOMO and EAMON McNIFF

[Jacaylbaro]

[STOIC]

I'm looking forward to seeing this episode in 20/20 tonight.Having lived in Atlanta for so many years I have personally met the Victim (Baashe).He is nice old guy.I hope he gets justice if the defendant really orchestrated putting him behind bars.I know little about what happened in Somalia during Barre regime, but My father in-law served in Barre's military.He had to quit after being passed over for scholarships and promotions just because he was from the North. It must be an interesting program.I hope they did a good investigative report and well balanced and even-handed research on what and how it all happened.....

 

20/20

[Thankful]

The real title:

 

Former Somali General, Accused of Rights Abuses, Lives in Comfort in D.C. Suburbs

 

The key word is ACCUSED, which means it's not been proven!

 

So you're little title is missing a question mark, because maybe in NW Somalia trials can end in a week, without all the evidence coming forward, but not in the U.S.

 

Until he is convicted, he is not an animal!

 

The only reason they are going after this man is because he comes from a group that is look down on in many aspects of our society.

 

Of all the warlords, former security services members and other war criminals; does it not seem odd that he is the only person going before a court?

 

Quite sad, I'm sure justice will prevail and this man won't be held accountable for the crimes that were committed by so many others.

[The Zack]

^Very well said.

[Maaddeey]

JB, leave Samatar, the General alone, can u deal with Samatar,the Professor? he's more a threat than the General, don't u think?

[Jacaylbaro]

The Right Title ,,,, Monster Next Door

 

 

Thanksful, save your anger niyow ,,, we're doing our job and this is just the beginning.

 

 

Maadeey ,,, you have issues to deal in your tuulooyin ,,,,,, you will probably have the right to talk about that in 20 years or so ,,,

[Abtigiis]

Monster iyo badh!

[Thankful]

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro:

The Right Title ,,,, Monster Next Door

 

 

Thanksful, save your anger niyow ,,, we're doing our job and this is just the beginning.

 

 

Maadeey ,,, you have issues to deal in your tuulooyin ,,,,,, you will probably have the right to talk about that in 20 years or so ,,,

Yes that is the right title, but it has a QUESTION MARK (?) after it, meaning that it is not certain and they are wondering, your title does not have one!!!

 

After 20 years since the state collapsed, you are not getting started with nothing, not a single thing. You say Morgan is bad, he travels to Kenya all the time, he's there now, you dont voice opposition. Riyaale was part of the NSS, yet he became your leader. Your former President Egaal worked under Siad Barre

 

In Iraq the new government there banned ALL former Baath Party Leaders. Because logically if you claimed a dictatorship tortured and murdered your people, you wouldn't accept some of it's members into a new government you're forming. Yet, in Hargeysa NW Somalia, they accept so many ex-Siad Barre employees! RIDICULOUS.

 

The ONLY reason you are going after this man and making up the stories about him because he doesn't have supports like other former politicians does that will rally behind him!

 

 

He comes from an oppressed group that has NO politicians in any part of Somali politics, whether it is NW Somalia, Puntland or the south!

 

The fact that after 20 years no one else has been charged, after all the blood that has been spilled, is proof of this nonsense.

 

Like the video shows, there is NO evidence, just some guy who wants to be famous story!

 

JB you are NOT getting started with nothing!! 20 years and this is the only person!

[Rayyan]

To from oppressed group from his own society is sad and immoral, and disgrace like no other, and Somali people should stop that period. In terms of his profession and his capacity as a person not as a group. He was from the upper echelon, the second man of the dictator of that time, some times he was the law by himself. just must prevail, if there is any crime committed.

[Castro]

Originally posted by ThankfulSP:

You say Morgan is bad, he travels to Kenya all the time, he's there now, you dont voice opposition. Riyaale was part of the NSS, yet he became your leader. Your former President Egaal worked under Siad Barre

None of those guys live in suburban Washington, DC. And for enjoying all those lattes at Starbucks on Leesburg Pike, the war criminal Samatar should be able to take some heat. Fortunately for him though, the US Supreme Court will not do much regardless of the evidence against him. If it does, a decades long slippery slope of hunting down all the war criminals retired in the US would ensue.

[Thankful]

Rayyan*,

 

I agree under Siad he was made 2nd man, but let's talking about right now and the conditions that his supporters live in, they have no organization to defend him! Can you imagine if people went after Riyaale and Morgan, the people that would come out defend them?

 

Not a single person has been investigated like him, like I said, after so much death and destruction. He is the only man people are going after! Other members of Siad's regime became leaders in other area's of Somalia and are not investigated.

 

Castro,

 

Alleged War Criminals should be tracked down no matter where they are found! You don't pick and choose the ones you want to complain about depending on where they are living. When Siad went to Kenya, there were protest and he had to go to Nigeria.

 

But no such complaints against someone like alleged criminals Morgan or Riyaale! This double standard needs to stop.

 

They are going after this man because he is seen as someone that doesn't have organized supporters.

[Jacaylbaro]

Are you worried about Morgan niyow ??

[Thankful]

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro:

Are you worried about Morgan niyow ??

You think everything is a joke right?

 

I say let's investigate all former members, bring forward the evidence and witnesses, then a decision can be made.

 

But no, we never went after former NW Somalia's Egal right when he was alive? Who was once number two! We never go after the current leader Riyaale that was head of the same security building that has been implicated in numerous tortures and deaths.

 

After 20 years no invesigations on a single other person!

 

It's this double standard that sickens me. Turn a blind eye to some who are from "our side" and go after others that can't defend themselves.

 

Please dont tell me other complaints are coming either! Especially after two decades.

[Jacaylbaro]

waar maxaad la ooyaysaa ???/ ,,,,,, Now i suspect you are one of them ,,,