The former President of the Somali Regional Government Abdi Mohamud Omar (Abdi Iley) said that the witnesses defending him were tortured and arrested by the Addis Ababa Police, as Abdi Iley said before the Court.
Abdi Iley said that in the last three days, 5 of his witnesses who were defending him were arrested and tortured, according to the BBC’s Amharic language section quoting one of the people who closely followed the court case.
The witnesses who defended Abdi Iley were said to have been arrested and beaten to death after they appeared in court last Tuesday, to defend against the charges against the former president of the Somali region, Abdi Mohamud Omar (Abdi Iley).
One of the defense witnesses for Abdi Iley is said to have been in the same case with Abdi Iley and was imprisoned together and was one of the members of his previous government, but the court dismissed her case three years ago, at which time she was acquitted of any crime.
But the court that heard the accusation made by Abdi Iley to the police that the police arrested and tortured the people who were his defense witnesses, the court ordered the police to respond to that, but the police said that there is nothing against them. the people who are said to be witnesses to Abdi Iley, except for one girl who they said is being held by the Federal Police.
Abdi Mohamud Omar, who was arrested 5 years ago for the 2018 riots in Jigjiga, the Ethiopian government accused Abdi Iley of being involved in the riots, by creating social agitation and arming groups called Heego, but Abdi Iley denied the allegations.
Abdi Iley has been the President of the Somali Regional Government for 8 years, and he lost his position as President on August 4, 2018, when the biggest violence in the region ever happened in Jigjiga city, in which many people died and property was destroyed. reached the town of Jigjiga.
