Urgent appeal to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the international press.
A deeply troubling situation is unfolding in Djibouti.
Over the past several days, a series of arrests and reported detentions has raised serious concerns about the protection of fundamental rights, due process and the possible targeting of members of the Gadaboursi community.
These allegations require urgent and independent scrutiny.
Among those reportedly detained is Dr. Yacoub Omar Mohamed, a young lecturer at the University of Djibouti, who was arrested at his home on September 2.
According to information received, Dr. Yacoub Omar Mohamed was forcibly taken from his home and initially held at a police facility located inside the Port of Djibouti compound before reportedly being transferred to an intelligence-service detention facility.
Since his arrest, his family and relatives have reportedly been left without clear information about his whereabouts, legal status or the reasons for his detention.
There has, to our knowledge, been no transparent public explanation of his arrest, no publicly disclosed charges and no clear indication that he has been brought promptly before a judicial authority.
This is deeply alarming.
ANOTHER REPORTED DETENTION
Dr. Yacoub Omar Mohamed is reportedly not the only person affected.
Abdillahi Ali Warsame is also reported to have been detained for several days without publicly known charges or a transparent judicial process.
Other individuals are reportedly being sought, questioned or discreetly summoned by security services.
Taken individually, each case demands clarification.
Taken together, they raise a much more disturbing question:
Are these isolated security operations, or are the authorities conducting a broader campaign targeting members of a particular community?
THE GADABOURSI QUESTION
According to information and testimonies reaching us, a significant number of the individuals reportedly targeted are believed to belong to the Gadaboursi community.
This allegation must be independently investigated.
If individuals are being arrested or subjected to security pressure because of their real or perceived community affiliation rather than because of specific, individualized criminal allegations, the matter would represent a grave violation of the principle of equality before the law.
No government should be permitted to transform communal identity into a presumption of guilt.
No citizen should have to fear arrest because of the community to which they are perceived to belong.
And no family should have to spend days wondering whether a loved one is being held in a police station, an intelligence facility or another undisclosed location.
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE SYSTEM?
The most disturbing aspect of this situation is not simply the reported arrests.
It is the lack of transparency surrounding them.
Where are the official explanations?
What crimes are the detainees accused of committing?
Where are the arrest warrants, where required?
Have the detainees been given access to lawyers?
Have their families been formally notified?
Have they appeared before an independent judicial authority?
Where exactly are they being held?
These are not political demands.
They are basic questions of human rights and the rule of law.
The deprivation of liberty cannot become an administrative black hole in which citizens disappear from public view and families are left without answers.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST NOT LOOK AWAY
Djibouti frequently presents itself as an island of stability in a turbulent region.
But genuine stability cannot be measured solely by the absence of public disorder.
A country is stable when its institutions respect the law, when its citizens are protected from arbitrary detention, and when justice remains independent and accessible.
Silence is not stability.
Fear is not stability.
Secret detention is not stability.
And communal discrimination cannot be justified in the name of national security.
We therefore call on Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, United Nations human rights mechanisms, diplomatic missions and international media organizations to urgently examine these allegations.
We call for:
- The immediate clarification of the whereabouts and legal status of Dr. Yacoub Omar Mohamed and Abdillahi Ali Warsame.
- The disclosure of any charges brought against them.
- Immediate access to legal counsel and family contact.
- Judicial review of their detention by an independent and competent authority.
- An independent investigation into allegations of arbitrary detention and possible communal targeting.
- An end to any detention based solely on ethnic or communal identity.
- Protection for families, witnesses and others who report human-rights abuses from intimidation or retaliation.*
The Djiboutian authorities have an obligation to answer these questions publicly and transparently.
THIS IS A MOMENT FOR VIGILANCE
History has shown repeatedly that serious human-rights violations often begin with what authorities describe as isolated arrests.
One detention becomes several.
Silence becomes normalization.
Fear becomes routine.
And eventually, an entire community begins to feel that the law no longer protects it.
That is precisely why the international community must pay attention *now*, before the situation deteriorates further.
We are not asking anyone to prejudge the guilt or innocence of the individuals concerned.
We are asking for something far more fundamental:
Evidence. Transparency. Due process. Independent scrutiny. Justice.
If the authorities have nothing to hide, they should have no reason to prevent independent observers, lawyers and families from knowing where detainees are being held and why.
Djibouti cannot claim to defend the rule of law while citizens can allegedly be taken from their homes and disappear behind the walls of security institutions without clear explanation.
The international community must not wait for the next arrest.
The time to investigate is now.
The time to demand transparency is now.
The time to defend the principle that every Djiboutian is equal before the law is now.
Djibouti deserves justice.
Djibouti deserves transparency.
And no community should have to live in fear of the state.
FMO, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
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