Police Commissioner Brigadier Abdilahi FadalIman denied all of the allegations in the Human Rights Center report and labeled them "blatant lies", which can be easily verified.
By Abdirisak Itaqile
Hargeisa, (Somaliland Monitor) - Somaliland National Police refuted allegations made in a new report released by Somaliland-based Center for Human Rights on torture, police abuse and corruption involving police investigators in the country.
The 57-page report, titled "Somaliland Government: Accountable To One", was released Tuesday (December 9th) and is based according to the report on interviews with unspecified number of detainees who allege that police investigators use torture, ask bribe and exercise enormous and unchecked powers.
Somaliland Human rights center is a non-governmental organization that conducts research and survey on human rights, though government and other Human Rights activists see it as briefcase NGO.
Somaliland Police Commissioner Brigadier Abdilahi Fadal Imandenied all of the allegations in the Human Rights Center report and labeled them "blatant lies", which can be easily verified.
"The allegations in the report are total lies and unbelievable," Brigadier Abdilahi Fadal told Somaliland Monitor.
Brigadier Fadal also alleged the center of being a briefcase NGO run by only one person, only to obtain money from donors but having no programs on the ground, where he called on the organization to reveal the origin of its funding for such reports.
"What Human Rights Center NGO says in the report is a series of lies—manipulations of human rights," said Brigadier Fadalduring the interview with the editor of Somaliland Monitor Eng.Abdirisak Itaqile.
According to him, the report of the Human Rights Center does not consider "existing extenuating challenges as contributing factors" of some of the "shortcomings" of the police officers.
He said the report was made up of "unsubstantiated allegations and accusations against the police investigators regarding corruption without balancing its information to reflect accuracy and the current reality."
"It can never be that our way of operation is through and extortion and torture. Our orders and policy is to protect citizens irrespective of social standing," he said.
Surprisingly, the report which is written in broken English also questions UK government's role in providing support and training to the police's counterterrorism unit known as Rapid Reaction Unit.
To give credit where it's due, Brigadier Abdilahi Fadal Iman hasled the Police Force towards more professionalization and created a force that can deliver all elements of police service toSomaliland people since he was sworn in as Somaliland's new Police Chief Commissioner on April, 2012.
When he was appointed as new Chief Commissioner, BrigadierFadal found the Police Force in a state of neglect, not just in manpower, but also in discipline, resources and finances.
Somaliland Police Force has seen a major reform and continued a relentless growth in power and stature since BrigadierAbdilahi Fadal Iman took office in April 2012, where he established the ranking system in the Police Force.
While the report's allegation may have been widespread during past police administrations, the same cannot be persistent under the current reformed police force under the leadership of Brigadier Fadal since he put into place several corrective measures to discourage such unethical behaviors.
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