By Juggie Naran
Independent Online
A Johannesburg business consultant, released on Tuesday from a Guantanamo-style detention centre in Addis Ababa, has told of kidnapping, assault, torture and interrogation, mainly at the hands of American intelligence officials.
Abdul Hamid Moosa, 41, of Robertsham, told the Sunday Tribune of his “six months of hell” after he went to war-torn Somalia in late December for “humanitarian purposes and to assist my brothers and sisters in realising an Islamic state”.
The bearded man, wearing a fez (cap) and kurta (gown), related how he was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement for more than a month, and how he had been treated like a caged dog. He also told of a mystery Afrikaans interrogator.
The muscular Moosa, who refuses to be photographed, said he was having difficulty finding his feet in the outside world.
“During solitary confinement the days turned into nights and nights turned into days. I lost sight of what day or month it was. There were no calendars, nor were we allowed to keep watches,” he said.
Moosa said he left South Africa in September 2005, to further his Islamic studies in Damascus, Syria. He was taken prisoner by Ethiopian troops on the Somalia-Kenya border on January 9, 2007 after being caught up in sudden hostilities in the region.
Moosa told of his treatment at their hands and said an Ethiopian cargo aircraft had flown him from Somalia to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 16.
“From the landing strip, I was bundled into a vehicle and taken to a house that was used as a secret prison. I was in isolation there for about three months, policed 24/7 and handcuffed while my feet were shackled with a lock and chain.
“I wasn’t allowed to walk, unless I needed the bathroom, and I was subjected to loud music and bright lights 24/7. During these three months I was taken before dawn to various other secret cottages that were used as interrogation venues by American, British, Israeli, Egyptian and other intelligence officers.
“I would then return from interrogation to the secret prison after dark. I was kept standing throughout these sessions.
“I later discovered there were two other prisoners at the secret house. One was from Denmark, the other from Jordan.
“We slept on the floor. They supplied us with a thin mattress, blanket and sheet.
“There was a war of wits between me and the interrogators. They would continuously ask the same questions, trying to trip me into saying something different. If I did fall into the trap, they would pounce upon this new revelation as if it were a victory.
“They would ask questions such as: What was I doing in Syria and Somalia? What activities were I involved in while in these two countries? Did I propagate jihad? They tried to establish if I had links with Al-Qaeda or any other terror group,” he said.
Moosa said the officers did not want to believe he was South African, even though they had his passport and driver’s licence.
“They said if I had an English name they could believe I was a South African. But because I had a Muslim surname this was not possible. They believed I was either from the Middle East or of Egyptian origin.
“I felt intimidated, victimised, made to feel like a criminal and became very frustrated. I decided I could not take it any more and went on a hunger strike. I demanded they charge me, even if it meant by Ethiopian law.
“I was on strike for about three days and was then taken to the police hospital where I was put on a drip. The hospital superintendent urged me to stop the hunger strike and said he would try to get me a court appearance,” said Moosa.
He said he appeared before a military court on March 21.
“There was a judge and a prosecutor. It was decided to remand the case for another month to determine whether I was a prisoner of war, an illegal combatant or innocent.
Moosa said his last two months were spent in a secret prison behind a police barracks/military hostel in Addis Ababa.
“The front yard served as a military vehicle scrap yard. Behind the scrap yard was a hostel and physical training camp. The secret prison was then behind this. Here I spent more than a month in solitary confinement, handcuffed in a cell about 1.7m by 1.2m,” said Moosa.
He said the only item was a thin mattress on a corrugated stone floor.
“Even though there were a number of cells on either side of a passage, these were left empty to make sure that I was kept incommunicado. The only thing I could do to keep my sanity was to pray and read the Quran.
“My hands were freed only for a brief while to eat or use the bathroom. It was at this site that I realised there were about 50 more prisoners that were being held at this secret rat hole.
“There wasn’t a single sink. There were only three taps without drains. The 50-odd prisoners, including women and children as well as about 20 prison staff, shared the three unlit, unhygienic, unlockable toilets.
He said two children were born while he was at the secret prison.
“Although we were not allowed to speak to each other and kept under guard 24 hours a day, we used to clandestinely utter a few words to each other when going to the toilet.
“During this time I was taken twice for further interrogation. On about April 21, 12 of us appeared in the same military court. The court found they had no evidence against us. The prosecutor asked that the case be postponed for a further 45 days for him to ascertain our country of origin,” he said.
“Again the frustration of being kept in solitary confinement starting creeping upon me. I went on another hunger strike towards the end of May.
“I preferred starving as a human being than living like a caged dog.”
Moosa said he eventually ended his strike on June 5.