Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Somali Torturer Liable under Torture Victims Protection Act

Despite the narrowing scope of the Alien Tort Statute, U.S. courts remain a place where, in some circumstances, torturers and human rights violators can be brought to justice.  One such case, addressing torture that occurred more than three decades ago, was resolved at the end of May.

On May 21, a Virginia jury found Col. Yusuf Abdi Ali (aka “Tukeh”) responsible for the torture of semi-nomadic Somali herder Farhan Warfaa.  Col. Tukeh was a high-ranking military commander in Siad Barre’s decades-long military dictatorship in Somalia.  The evidence established that in 1987, Mr. Warfaa was rounded up with other men from his village and taken to the Military Headquarters of the Fifth Brigade of the Somali National Army, where Col. Tukeh held command.  Mr. Warfaa testified that Col. Tukeh’s soldiers tortured and interrogated him over a period of months, and that Col. Tukeh himself shot Mr. Warfaa multiple times at point blank range, leaving him for dead.  Miraculously, he survived.  

While Col. Tukeh ultimately moved to the United States, Mr. Wafaa remains a resident of Somalia.  Tukeh, the BBC reported, was working as an Uber and Lyft driver in Washington, D.C. until May 2019.

Mr. Wafaa's case was initiated fifteen years ago, brought under the Alien Tort Statue as well as the Torture Victim Protection Act.   In the intervening years, courts dismissed the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, creating new, narrower law under the ATS.  However, the TVPA claims proceeded to trial.

The jury awarded Mr. Warfaa $500,000 in damages, including $100,000 in punitive damages.

Mr. Warfaa was represented by the Center for Justice and Accountability and the law firm of DLA Piper LLP.  The pleadings and briefs filed in the case are available here.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2019/06/somali-torturer-liable-under-torture-victims-protection-act.html

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