Djibouti: Arrest of a Citizen Following the Dissemination of a Video Condemning Water Shortcomings in the Country

press release

On 10 August 2016, Alkarama referred the case of Abdi Aden Cheik Ali to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression (SR FRDX), in order to call for his release after he was sentenced by the Djiboutian authorities to three months in detention following the dissemination of a video denouncing the lack of water in the region of Ali-Sabieh.

Agents from the gendarmerie of Ali-Sabieh, a city located in the southern region of the country, arrested Abdi Aden Cheik Ali on 20 July 2016, at 4 am, at his house without presenting an arrest warrant. It is likely that his arrest is linked to the dissemination of a video, circulating in the internet, which denounces the water shortcoming and the difficulties of local populations in sourcing water. Cheik Ali was then held in remand custody for three days and denied access to his family.

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