27-year-old Sadia Moalim Ali, who is being held in Somalia after taking part in peaceful protests, says she was tortured by prison guards. In an interview with The Guardian, she said two male guards stripped her naked in a room monitored by surveillance cameras, beat her with a baton and kicked her, before placing her in solitary confinement for two days without food or access to basic necessities.
Ali—a nursing college graduate and rickshaw driver—was arrested on April 12 after posting videos on Facebook and TikTok criticizing the Somali authorities over corruption, nepotism, rising prices, and unemployment. According to Amnesty International, a court authorized her detention for 90 days pending investigation.
As The Guardian reports, on April 20 Somali broadcaster Shabelle Media aired an interview with Ali from prison in which she said she was being held unlawfully and demanded her release. According to Ali, the torture began after that interview with the media. “I was really hurt badly,” she said.
Ali, who trained as a nurse, says she was tortured after speaking to the media about her arrest.
The solitary confinement cell where she was held is known among inmates as the “death cell”—a room measuring roughly two square meters that dates back to the period of Italian colonial rule. Former prisoners say it is filled with a heavy stench, extreme heat, and unsanitary conditions. Ali is now being held alongside 38 other women. She says she suffers from kidney problems, numbness in her arm and leg, and is barely able to sleep.
Human rights groups and opposition politicians have described Ali’s arrest as unlawful. Dalmar Dhayow of Somali Human Rights Defenders said women in Somali prisons regularly face sexualized violence, humiliation, and pressure to extract false confessions. Opposition leader Abdirahman Abdishakur called Ali’s detention “a national disgrace” and accused the authorities of persecuting her for criticizing corruption.