On March 3, 2023, Freedom Now and law firm McKool Smith filed a petition with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of businessman Abdoul Aziz Goma, an Irish-born citizen Togolese. The petition alleges that Goma’s secret detention by Togo for years, without trial, violates his fundamental right to liberty, in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. male.
“Abdoul Aziz Goma has been unjustly detained for more than four years without trial, while being repeatedly subjected to reprehensible acts of torture and ill-treatment,” said Freedom Now legal officer Adam Lhedmat. “We are confident that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will conclude that Abdoul’s fundamental human rights have been violated and that he must be released immediately.”
Prior to his arrest, Goma made regular business visits to Togo. His most recent trip was in November 2018. On December 19, 2018, Goma received an unexpected call from a friend residing in Accra, Ghana asking for help for eight young people who had traveled from Accra to Lome , in Togo and were blocked because they could not reach their local contact. Although Goma did not know these people, he decided to help them and contacted a friend who agreed to take them in. He also provided them with money to help them return to Ghana. Goma later learned that the individuals were from Togo and were in Lome to take part in a peaceful protest march surrounding the upcoming elections. However, the protest never took place due to government repression. The eight individuals eventually joined their local contact the next evening and settled into a hotel. Goma never saw them again.
On the evening of December 21, 2018, Goma was arrested in the streets of Lomé by a group of armed men in civilian clothes, later revealed to be members of the Gendarmerie’s Special Intervention Unit (USIG). The armed men attacked and then handcuffed Goma and his companions. They were taken to the special police headquarters where they were again physically assaulted and continued to be abused until the following day. Goma was handcuffed to a car and then to a tree and beaten until he vomited blood and passed out. He secured repeated beatings and torture for two weeks.
Goma appeared before the public prosecutor 10 days after his arrest and was informed of the charges against him, including aggravated disturbance of public order, willful destruction of public property, criminal association and attack on the internal security of the country. ‘ state, but has not been brought before a judge for another two weeks. Charges of destroying public property and undermining state security were later dropped. At no time during these events did Goma have access to a lawyer or contact with his relatives.
In October 2020, nearly two years after his arrest, Goma gained his first access to lawyers who requested provisional release. This request was rejected by the court without any justification. The court then ordered a formal investigation into Goma’s torture allegations, which nearly two and a half years later has still not taken place.
On January 20, 2022, Goma was transferred from a secret prison at the National Gendarmerie in Lomé, where he had been held since June 2020, to the Civil Prison in Lomé, where he remains incarcerated. Lomé’s civil prison is supposed to house 600 detainees, but currently houses more than 2,000. While in detention, Goma was usually only fed once a day and often not at all.
Due to the torture he suffered, Goma’s health rapidly deteriorated. He was diagnosed with a herniated disc, which has since gone untreated. He also develops symptoms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a degenerative nerve disorder that causes weakness and atrophy of the arms, hands, legs, and feet. As a result, he gradually lost the use of both legs and could no longer walk. The torture left him in a permanent state of muscle, joint, spinal and abdominal pain. His requests for release on humanitarian grounds were rejected.
Source : freedom-now.org