For Immediate Release: September 21, 2011

Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Religious coalition asks Obama to respond to reports of mistreatment of detainees in Somali prison

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, as part of a coalition of eight human rights groups, released a letter yesterday asking the Obama Administration to respond to recent reports about CIA involvement in potentially abusive prison conditions in Somalia. 

According to the reports, there is a secret underground prison in Mogadishu, which, while technically being run by Somalis, is paid for by the CIA.  CIA agents are believed to take part in interrogations of detainees in this prison.  Further, it appears that the United States may have played a role in the involuntary transfer of citizens of third countries to the prison.  Reports from former prisoners suggest that the conditions in the prison are inhumane and that prisoners are mistreated. 

Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said the following about the reports: “The Obama Administration must make clear the degree of its involvement in the operations of the Somali prison, as well as the steps it has taken to ensure that detainees are being treated humanely.  The President has ordered the CIA to end its use of torture, but transparency about the conditions in this prison are necessary to ensure that that order is being followed.  Our government, acting in our name, committed a grievous sin when it used torture as an interrogation technique.  We must act proactively so that we never repeat that mistake.”

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