Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Djibouti

Arbitrary detention and judicial proceedings against several union leaders⁵²

On January 22, 2006, two intelligence officers arrested Mr. Hassan Cher Hared, international relations secretary of the Djiboutian Workers' Union (Union djiboutienne du travail – UDT) and secretary general of the Djiboutian Post Office Workers' Union (Syndicat des postiers de Djibouti). Mr. Cher Hared was then questioned about the applications filed by several unionists in order to participate in a training workshop on union rights organised by the Israeli "Histadrut" labour federation in February 2006. Mr. Cher Hared was subsequently released.

On February 20, 2006, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, head of the legal department of the Port Workers' Union (Union des travailleurs du port – UTP), and Mr. Djibril Ismael Egueh, secretary general of the Maritime and Transit Service Union (Syndicat du personnel maritime et du service de transit – SP-MTS), were arrested without a warrant, before being taken to the intelligence and criminal investigation department. They were both questioned at length about their union activities as well as about their recent participation in the labour training workshop held in Israel.

Messrs. Ahmed Mohamed and Ismael Egueh were released without charge on February 22, 2006. However, the police confiscated their passports, which were only returned a couple of months later. No reason was then given for their arrest.

On March 5, 2006, they were both arrested again and placed in incommunicado detention, in the headquarters of the national police criminal investigation department. At the same time, police searched their respective homes and confiscated all documents referring to their union activities. This search was reportedly carried out without a warrant.

On March 8, 2006, Messrs. Mohamed and Egueh appeared before an examining magistrate who charged them with "supplying information to a foreign power" (Articles 137 to 139 of the Criminal Code) and issued a committal order against them. They were both transferred to the Gabode prison, in Djibouti.

Furthermore, on March 11, 2006, Mr. Adan Mohamed Abdou, UDT secretary general, and Mr. Hassan Cher Hared were also arrested without a warrant and taken to the headquarters of the criminal investigation department. They appeared before an examining magistrate who charged them with "supplying information to a foreign power" and issued a committal warrant on March 13, 2006. Messrs. Abdou and Cher Hared were immediately transferred to the Gabode prison and denied access to a lawyer or a doctor.

The additional charges of "sharing intelligence with a foreign power" and "outrage against the President of the Republic" were brought against Messrs. Abdou, Cher Hared, Ahmed Mohamed and Egueh in the following days. These charges are liable to a 10- to 15year term of imprisonment and a five to seven million Djiboutian francs fine (24 to 34,000 euros).

In a letter dated March 18, 2006 and officially registered by the Gabode prison administration on March 21, 2006, the four union leaders urged the prison director to convey, to their lawyers and the court, a request for the annulment of the pending hearings on grounds of technical irregularities.

Messrs. Hassan Cher Hared and Mohamed Abdou were released on bail on the order of the examining magistrate on March 29, 2006.

On the next day, Public Prosecutor Djama Souleiman appealed against this decision.

On March 30, 2006, the Djibouti Appeals Chamber decided to reserve its judgement until April 6, 2006.

Mr. Adan Mohamed Abdou was again arrested without a warrant at his home on April 3, 2006, and immediately taken to Gabode. Mr. Hassan Cher Hared, who was actively wanted by the police, could not be located.

On April 6, 2006, Messrs. Abdou, Ahmed Mohamed and Egueh were released on bail and put on probation by the Djibouti Appeals Chamber.

As of the end of 2006, the four union leaders remained on probation pending trial. The next hearing had not yet been scheduled.

Expulsion of a judicial observation mission mandated by the Observatory and expulsion of an ILO mission⁵³

On April 1, 2006, members of a mission mandated jointly by the Observatory and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) were denied access to the Djiboutian territory in spite of prior verbal consent from the Minister for Home Affairs. The delegates, who were to attend the trial of the abovementioned union leaders on April 6, 2006, were jostled and insulted before being forcibly returned to their plane.

On the same day, Mr. Ibrahim Mayaki, an official of the International Labour Office (ILO) mandated by ILO to investigate the situation of union rights defenders in Djibouti, and holder of a diplomatic passport, was granted access to the territory. On April 3, 2006 however, Mr. Mayaki was arrested and questioned for several hours by the General Intelligence Services. He was released after signing an expulsion order that was executed on April 4, 2006.

Judicial harassment and unfair dismissal of Mr. Hassan Cher Hared⁵⁴

On May 25, 2005, Mr. Hassan Cher Hared was dismissed without prior notice by the director general of the Djiboutian Post Office who described his activism in favour of union rights as an "irresponsible behaviour". Mr. Cher Hared subsequently filed three separate complaints against the director general for "embezzlement of part salaries, psychological harassment and abuse of power", "discrimination on grounds of union activities" and "unfair dismissal".

As of the end of 2006, these complaints had not yet been examined by the State Prosecutor and remained pending.

On June 21, 2005, Mr. Cher Hared lodged a complaint with the Social Labour Court against the Djibouti Post Office to be reinstated. By late December 2006, this complaint was still under examination although such procedures are usually completed within a six-month period of time.

On January 31, 2006, Mr. Cher Hared, who was demoted to the position of "head of restricted unions" of the Djiboutian Post Office in December 2005, referred his case to the President of the Republic in order to speed up the official reinstatement process. On March 16, 2006, while Mr. Cher Hared was in detention⁵⁵, the secretary general of the Ministry provided him with a written information request.

The acting director general of the Djiboutian Post Office, Mr. Bobaker Farah Moussa, then responded by writing to the Ministry and strongly discrediting Mr. Cher Hared, who lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's office for "defamation of character" when informed of this letter by the Ministry. This complaint was transmitted to the criminal investigation department of the national police on April 17, 2006 but was subsequently repealed in late April 2006, allegedly on the order of the Office of the President of the Republic.

Finally, Mr. Cher Hared participated in a training session on employment policies organised by the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Turin, Italy (September 11-28, 2006), Geneva, Switzerland (September 30October 3, 2006) and Paris, France (October 3-6, 2006). While in Turin, Mr. Cher Hared was notified that he had been dismissed by the director general of the Djiboutian Post Office, on the order of the Office of the President of the Republic.

While in Paris, his colleagues further informed him that the Djiboutian airport police had been ordered to confiscate his passport upon his return to the country and to arrest him for "violating his probation" by travelling to the ILO headquarters in Geneva "without prior approval of the authorities".

On October 4, 2006, the UDT filed a complaint with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association to denounce this situation.

As a result of these repeated threats, Mr. Cher Hared decided not to return to Djibouti and currently lives in exile abroad. His dismissal had not been officially confirmed by the end of 2006.

Interference with SP-MTS activities⁵⁶

On March 15, 2006, while Mr. Djibril Ismael Egueh, SP-MTS secretary general, was detained⁵⁷, the secretary general of the Ministry of Employment issued an official notice appointing a new secretary general to the union's leadership, without prior consultation with SPMTS members.

The UDT, to which SP-MTS is affiliated, filed a complaint with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association on April 25, 2006. By the end of 2006, this complaint had been examined by the Committee but the Djiboutian government had not yet responded to it.

In December 2006, although Mr. Egueh remained in office and the majority of SP-MTS members did not acknowledge the authority of the secretary general appointed by the Ministry, the latter still officially chaired the union.

Ongoing harassment of Mr. Jean-Paul Noël Abdi⁵⁸

On November 4, 2006, Mr. Jean-Paul Noël Abdi, chairman of the Djiboutian League for Human Rights (Ligue djiboutienne des droits humains – LDDH), filed a request to extend the validity of his passport in order to participate in a conference on freedom of expression and journalists' rights organised from November 27 to 29, 2006 in Entebbe (Uganda) by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP). The passport division informed him at that time that his passport would be returned by November 7, 2006.

On that date however, the authorities refused to return his passport as well as the ID that he had deposited with his request. On November 9, 2006, Mr. Noël Abdi addressed a letter to Colonel Abdillahi Abdi Farah, chief of the National Police Forces (Forces nationales de police – FNP), to renew his request.

As the authorities failed to respond, Mr. Noël Abdi filed a complaint against Mr. Abdi Farah for violating his fundamental freedoms (Articles 195 to 197 and 390 of the Criminal Code) on November 13, 2006.

On November 19, 2006, Mr. Abdi Farah summoned Mr. Noël Abdi to his office. In the presence of four high-ranking FNP officials, he accused him of giving wide media coverage to this case and demanded a letter of apology as a condition for the return of his passport. Mr. Noël Abdi refused to comply with this request.

He finally withdrew his complaint on November 22, 2006 after his passport and ID were returned on November 20, 2006.

Mr. Noël Abdi nevertheless decided not to travel to the conference in Entebbe for fear of being harassed upon his return.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

52. See Annual Report 2005, Urgent Appeals DJI 001/0206/OBS 016, 016.1, 016.2, 016.3 and 016.4, Press Release of March 14, 2006 and International Fact-Finding Mission Report, Djibouti: les défenseurs des droits économiques paient le prix fort, August 2006.

53. See Urgent Appeal DJI 001/0206/OBS 016.4 and International Fact-Finding Mission Report mentioned above.

54. See International Fact-Finding Mission Report mentioned abov.

55. See above.

56. See International Fact-Finding Mission Report mentioned above.

57. See above.

58. See Annual Report 2005.