Kamilya Mohammedi Tuweni
| Kamilya Mohammedi Tuweni | |
|---|---|
| Born | Zanzibar |
| Occupation | translator |
Kamilya Mohammedi Tuweni is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates who reports being held in extrajudicial detention in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.[1][2] Tuweni was born on Zanzibar, Tanzania, and now holds UAE citizenship.[3] She is an Arabic-Swahili translator, and mother of three.
Capture
According to a telephone interview with the Associated Press Tuweni says she was captured on January 10, 2007, while on a business trip to Kenya.[1][2] The BBC reports Tuweni was arrested in February.[3] Tuweni says she was beaten in Kenya, then sent to Somalia, a country she had never visited, and had no connection with.
Tuweni told the Associated Press that she spent her first ten days in captivity in Somalia, sharing a cell with 22 other women and children.[1][2] She said she and the other women and children had to sleep on the cell's stone floor. The BBC says that Somalia officials declined to feed them.[3] A local woman, who occasionally brought a plate of spaghetti for the 23 captives to share, was their only nourishment. Her next stop was Ethiopia.[1]
According to the Associated Press:[1][2]
Finally, she said, she was taken blindfolded from prison to a private villa in the Ethiopian capital. There, she said, she was interrogated with other women by a male U.S. intelligence agent. He assured her that she would not be harmed but urged her to cooperate, she said.
Tuweni said the US official interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed her, but she does not report being tortured, or further abused, during her stay in the CIA safe house. According to Tuweni, approximately a month after her transfer to Ethiopia, she was
The Associated Press quoted Tuweni:[1][2]
- "It was a nightmare from start to finish."
- "We cried the whole time because we did not know what would happen. The whole thing was very scary."
The Associated Press wrote that they were able to corroborate part of Tuweni's story.[1][2] The flight manifest of African Express Airways flight 5Y AXF recorded that Tuweni was one of the 32 individuals on an unscheduled flight chartered by Kenya, that flew her and her companions to Mogadishu.
Release
Tuweni was released, in Addis Ababa, on March 24, 2007.[1][2] The BBC reports that Tuweni said that her case was given priority, because she engaged in a hunger strike.[3]
Suing Kenya
The BBC reported, on April 11, 2006, that Tuweni is suing the Kenyan government for wrongful arrest and abuse of her rights.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Anthony Mitchell. U.S. Agents Visit Ethiopian Secret Jails, Associated Press, 2007-04-03. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. Template:Dead link
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 AP: Feds Working In Secret African Prisons, CBS News, 2007-04-04. Retrieved on 2020-05-26. “Tuweni's version of her transfer out of Kenya is corroborated by the manifest of the African Express Airways flight 5Y AXF. It shows she was taken to Mogadishu, Somalia, with 31 other people on an unscheduled flight chartered by the Kenyan government.”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Noel Mwakugu. I want justice for terror detention, BBC News, 2007-04-11. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
Category:Emirati prisoners and detainees Category:Emirati people of Tanzanian descent Category:Living people Category:Tanzanian women Category:Translators from Arabic Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Emirati translators