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Somalia·Human Rights·Democracy·Protests

Somalia detains activist for peaceful protest amid torture allegations

Thursday, 7 May 2026, 16:42 · 1 min read

Sadia Moalim Ali, a 27-year-old nursing graduate and rickshaw driver, has been held in Mogadishu central prison since mid-April after being arrested for anti-government social media activism, including criticism of corruption, forced evictions, and rising fuel prices. Ali told the Guardian she was stripped naked by male guards, beaten with a baton, doused with water, and held for two days without food in a notorious solitary confinement cell known as the "cell of death" — punishment, she says, for speaking to the media about her detention. Human rights groups, opposition politicians, and a Somali MP have condemned her imprisonment as unlawful and called for her immediate release, while Amnesty International reports a court has granted police permission to hold her for 90 days without charge, part of what critics describe as a broader crackdown on dissent under President Hassan Sheikh's administration.

Sources
The GuardianWoman jailed in Somalia for peaceful protest ‘stripped, kicked and beaten’ ↗︎
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