CAT/C/22/D/120/1998 page 11 5.8 Counsel contests the State party’s argument that the author had in fact been able to live in Somalia since the outbreak of the war in “relative safety” and submits an affidavit from the author stating that, as an elder of the Shikal clan, his father had been prosecuted by the Hawiye clan, especially since he had categorically refused to provide money and manpower for the war. Even before the outbreak of the war there had been attempts on the author’s father’s life by the Hawiye clan. The family was told by the Hawiye that they would suffer the consequences of their refusal to provide support to the clan, once the Hawiye came into power in Mogadishu. The author states that he was staying at a friend’s house when the violence broke out in December 1990 and he learnt that his father had been killed during an attack by the Hawiye clan. Only hours after his father’s death, the Hawiye planted and detonated a bomb under the family home, killing one of the author’s brothers. The author’s mother, other brothers and his sisters had already fled the house. 5.9 The author also states that, together with the remaining family members, he escaped to the town of Medina, where he stayed during 1991. The Hawiye clan attacked Medina on a number of occasions and killed Shikal members in brutal and degrading ways. The author states that hot oil was poured over their heads, scalding their bodies. Sometimes, when they received warnings about Hawiye raids, the family would flee Medina for short periods of time. On one occasion, upon returning after such a flight, the author learnt that the Hawiye militia had searched the town with a list of names of people they were looking for, including the author and his family. After one year of constant fear the family fled to Afgoi. On the day of the flight, the Hawiye attacked again and the author’s sister was raped for the second time by a member of the militia. In December 1992, the author heard that the United Nations was sending troops to Somalia and that the family would be protected if they returned to Mogadishu. However, the author and his family only returned as far as Medina, since they heard that the situation in Mogadishu had in fact not changed. 5.10 After another year in Medina, the family once again fled to Afgoi and from there to Ugunji, where they stayed for two years in relative peace before the Hawiye arrived in the area and enslaved the members of minority clans and peasants living there, including the author. The indigenous villagers also had pale skin, therefore the militia never questioned the author and his family about their background. However, when the family learnt that Hawiye elders were coming to the village they once again fled, knowing that they would be recognized. In the course of the following months the author went back and forth between Medina and Afgoi. Finally, the family managed to leave the country by truck to Kenya. 5.11 In addition to the grounds previously mentioned, the risk to the author is increased by the national and international publicity which his particular case has received. For example, Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action in the name of the author; Reuters news agency, the BBC Somali Service and other international media have reported on the suspension of the author’s expulsion following the request of the Committee; the independent expert of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Somalia has appealed in the author’s case and made reference to it both in her report to the Commission on Human Rights and in oral statements, indicating that “[a] case currently pending in Australia concerning a forced return to Mogadishu of