Dr. Edna Adan Ismail, a renowned Somaliland activist, former Foreign Minister, and founder of Edna Adan University Hospital, has become the first prominent public figure from Somaliland to personally visit Habiba Yusuf, a survivor of torture and long-term imprisonment under the regime of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The visit took place yesterday at Habiba’s home in the village of Gogol-Wanaag, north of Arabsiyo, Republic of Somaliland. Habiba, now an elderly woman suffering from multiple serious health conditions, endured severe brutality during the 1980s.
In 1984, Habiba Yusuf—then eight months pregnant—was arrested following a nighttime raid on her home by soldiers from the Fardo-Jaan battalion, commanded by Colonel Koore-Jaan. The raid occurred around 9 p.m. in Gogol-Wanaag. Soldiers beat her repeatedly with rifle butts, causing heavy bleeding and the loss of her pregnancy. She was detained at the Fardo-Jaan military camp along with others from surrounding villages.
Days later, a military court held a mass sentencing in the dry riverbed of Arabsiyo. More than a dozen villagers were sentenced to death and executed on the spot in front of gathered residents. Habiba, whose legs had been shattered and who could no longer walk, had dried blood still visible on her injuries. Instead of execution, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. A young girl arrested with her received a ten-year sentence. Both were immediately transferred to Hargeisa Central Prison.
Habiba spent six years (1984–1989) in Hargeisa Central Prison. Under international pressure from human rights organizations and Western governments, she and a group of schoolgirls—detained for participating in 1980s student protests—were moved from Hargeisa to Mogadishu. They were flown in a military aircraft known as Shabeelay and taken directly to Mogadishu Central Prison.
About a week later, at dusk, heavily armed soldiers removed Habiba and the schoolgirls from their cells and brought them to Villa Somalia, where Siad Barre personally interrogated them. Also present were senior officials including Ali Samatar, Ina Saleban Dafle, Maslax Mohamed Siad, and several Isaaq elders.
Siad Barre questioned each detainee: “What crime were you arrested for? How many years were you sentenced to?” The terrified schoolgirls answered that they had been accused of “attempting to destroy the state” and given long prison terms.
Habiba, a pastoral woman with no political involvement and older than the girls, responded differently. She told the dictator that soldiers arrested her for giving dinner to a Somali visitor, beat her until her legs were shattered, and sentenced her to life imprisonment. She defended the schoolgirls, stating they were innocent Isaaq girls targeted solely for their identity, and directly challenged the regime’s narrative by accusing the army and courts of lying and brutality.
When Siad Barre asked if she was claiming the authorities were dishonest, Habiba confirmed yes and recalled his frequent phrase “let them be dealt with,” clarifying that it meant execution by bullets.
Dr. Edna Adan Ismail’s visit underscores growing public recognition of survivors from this dark period. As president of the Organization for Victims of Torture, she is expected to release a preliminary health evaluation detailing Habiba’s urgent medical and psychological needs, which is anticipated to mobilize nationwide and diaspora-wide support for her care.