Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
Abdinasir Guled
31 August 2008
Somali detainees in the jails of Tanzania are facing harsh life as some of them have started strike food to indicate the unsympathetic life in the detention centers.
Some of the detainees told Shabelle that they've no as much as necessary food to feed their life seeing that they encounter torture on occasions.
One of the many challenges that the detainees face is surviving with no income while waiting for a court date to determine if they will be deported to their war racked horn of Africa country as the mood of the inmate is in the aftermath of the raid is fear.
One of the prisoners neither Ali Moalin Nor told Shabelle by phone from small town in northern Tanzania that inhumane acts exist in the prisons that the Somalis in.
He stated that he cannot feel the real sense of freedom while thousands of Somalis are still imprisoned by Tanzania and facing ongoing violations and collective punishment by the soldiers and the Prison Administrations.
"I cannot really say they are alive for the appalling life they are in, there are fifteen rooms in every section, each room is 4 meters wide and eight detainees are placed in it" Moalin said.
He added that the rooms are old, very cold in winter and extremely hot in summer. Bugs, cockroaches and insects are filling the rooms due to old toilets. The detainees are also lacking shower.
If the detainees who is fined cannot pay the fine, they will remain in solitary confinement until their parents pay the fine.
Regarding the health conditions of the detainees, Moalin further said that there are several detainees who suffer from severe illnesses but are denied from their medication rights.
Mo,alin who witnessed the acts in the prisons before months acknowledged that the Detainees, are repeatedly vomiting and losing weight.
As their life continues to deteriorate some of the Somali detainees have been sentenced life sentence while others were sentenced between 20-30 years in prison.
No comments could be reached from Tanzanian government officials on this matter.
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