ICE officials in Washington, DC deported a former high-ranking Somali military officer who they say carried out torture, terror, and other human rights abuses against civilians.
The officer, Yusuf Abdi Ali, 71, also known as “Tukeh,” was deported from the United States by ICE officials on December 20. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Somali National Army and commander of the Fifth Brigade in the northwest. Somalia during the Siad Barre dictatorship from 1987 to 1989.
As a senior officer in the Somali National Army, Ali allegedly oversaw terrorist activities against the Isaaq clan in northwestern Somalia. He is believed to have committed a series of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, torture and arbitrary detentions.
ICE DEPORTATIONS REACH TRUMP-ERA NUMBERS IN FY 2024 AS BIDEN ADMIN REACHES HIS CLOSE
(Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
According to a December 23 ICE statement, the Somali National Army committed numerous human rights violations against civilians in those years, including the execution of suspected political opponents, the burning of entire villages, the illegal use of landmines, and the destruction of water tanks. attack the civilian population.
In February 2024, a Justice Department immigration judge issued a 65-page decision finding that Ali personally participated in torture while leading the Somali National Army. According to the decision, Ali ordered soldiers under his command to detain, torture and assist in extrajudicial executions. The judge ordered his transfer to Somalia.
The US law firm Center for Justice & Accountability, which has represented one of Ali’s alleged victims, Farhan Warfaa, calls him “one of the most ruthless commanders” of the Somali Barre dictatorship. Warfaa was kidnapped as a teenager by soldiers under Ali’s command, held for months, beaten repeatedly and finally shot and left for dead.
ICE CAUGHT AN ILLEGAL MIGRANT CHARGED WITH ATROCIOUS CRIME AND RELEASED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Soldiers patrol in front of the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on August 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Warfaa ended up surviving, and in 2019, a federal civil court in Alexandria, Virginia, found Ali responsible for his torture.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Ali was living as a permanent resident in Springfield, Virginia, until Homeland Security Investigations arrested him in November 2022.
“The United States will not be a safe haven for those who commit human rights violations, and we will persist in our efforts to seek justice for the victims of these crimes,” said Russell Hott, acting associate executive director for Washington, DC, ICE. Execution and Expulsion Operations.
Hott said that “although justice was delayed in this case, it ultimately prevailed.”
