those officials. Mohammed al Asad was one such detainee, who was transferred by Tanzanian officials to
Djibouti in 2003, where it is believed he was detained
by CIA officials at a secret location, interrogated, subjected to ill treatment and later transferred to another secret detention site.83
• In Kenya, organisations have documented numerous cases of ED of individuals suspected of ties to
Al-Shabab by military and police units, including
the Directorate of Military Intelligence.75 The Kenya
National Commission on Human Rights has documented at least 100 cases of extrajudicial killings
and ED of such individuals.76
Case study
Andargachew
“Andy” Tsege
Andargachew “Andy” Tsege, a UK citizen and a prominent figure in Ethiopian opposition politics, was tried
in absentia under an anti-terrorism proclamation in
Ethiopia in 2009 and in 2012, and was sentenced to
death in the first trial and to life imprisonment in the
second.84 Neither trial followed due process.
• Similarly, in Cameroon and Nigeria, security forces
have disappeared hundreds of men and boys suspected of association with Boko Haram.77
• In recent years, the Egyptian Supreme State Security
Prosecution has, under the expansive definition of
“terrorism,” disappeared peaceful protestors, opposition and human rights defenders.78 This follows concerns raised by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms while countering terrorism in 2009 about
the Egyptian government’s use of exceptional powers
to pursue terrorism offences and the use of unofficial
detention facilities.79 The WGEID and the Special Rapporteur on Torture sent an urgent communication
to the Egyptian government in 2009 regarding the
ED of 16 persons who were believed to have been
abducted by the State Security Intelligence agents.80
On 23 June 2014, Andy was abducted while transiting
through an airport in Yemen by what are believed to
be Yemeni intelligence officers acting on the orders of
Ethiopian authorities. Andy was rendered to Ethiopia
and held in solitary confinement and incommunicado in an unknown location for over a year. It was not
until around July 2015 that Andy was transferred to
Kality federal prison in Addis Ababa.
On 4 February 2015, REDRESS, along with fellow human rights organisation Reprieve, submitted a complaint on behalf of Andy and his family to the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, calling for
Andy’s immediate release and repatriation to the UK.
On 29 May 2018, Andy was released from prison after
receiving a pardon from the Ethiopian Government.
Hatem Al Fathi Al Marghani was secretly detained by
the Libyan Security Services from December 2004 to
March 2005.81 During the secret detention, he was
not informed of charges against him nor brought
before a judge. He was apparently detained for his
public statements that the Libyan authorities deemed
to endanger State Security.82
In addition to those violations perpetrated by the
members of State security forces, ED may also be
conducted by local law enforcement and police forces
as part of “anti-crime” campaigns. In the Democratic
Republic of Congo in late 2013, the government initiated “Operation Likofi”, in which police officers forcibly disappeared at least 33 young men and teenage
boys as part of an effort to end crime by members
of organised crime gangs (“kuluna”).85 As noted by
Human Rights Watch, “Operation Likofi reinforced a
climate of fear in Kinshasa… many who were targeted
Many States, including African States, collaborated
with US officials during the “War on Terror” between
2003 and 2008 to capture and render detainees to
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
HRW, Deaths and Disappearances: Abuses in Counterterrorism Operations in Nairobi and in Northeast Kenya, 20 July 2016.
HRW, Kenya: Events of 2015.
Ibid.
Amnesty International, Where Are They? Their Loved Ones Deserve to Know, 2018. See also HRW, Nigeria: Events of 2017.
Amnesty International, Egypt: State Security Prosecution operating a sinister tool of repression, 27 November 2019.
Ibid, paras. 222 to 223.
Ibid, paras. 224 to 225.
UN HRC, Joint Study on Secret Detention, supra note 71, para. 142.
UN HRC, Joint Study on Secret Detention, supra note 71, para. 235.
UN HRC, Joint Study on Secret Detention, supra note 71, para. 157.
REDRESS, Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, Case Report dated 2017.
Human Rights Watch, Operation Likofi: Police Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (Nov. 17, 2014).
21
© Free Andy Tsege Campaign
ism operations may involve the arrest of suspected
individuals without warrant, often by State agents
or security officers who are not uniformed or fail to
identify themselves.74 For example:
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