House report faults NISA over Qalbi Dhagah extradition, silent on his fate

The Lower House Saturday directed blame at the National Intelligence Agency (NISA) over the controversial extradition of ONLF leader Qalbi Dhagah but fell short of any recommendations regarding the fate of ONLF leader.

A report tabled by a 15 member special committee appointed September and endorsed by the House lashed at the government for acting solely on what it termed as non-reliable information from NISA to hand over Abdikarim Muse aka Qalbi Dhagah in August.

“The committee found that the hand-over of Qalbi Dhagah was not done legally and the judiciary was not consulted,” the report tabled by the 15 member committee reads in part.

“At the same time,’ the report notes, “The extradition was only based on National Intelligence Security Agency information which was given to the national leaders though it was not a reliable one.”

The cabinet, in a majority decision early September cited two agreements between Somalia and Ethiopia in 2015 and 2016 to transfer Qalbi Dhagah to Ethiopia. The cabinet also declared Qalbi Dhagah a terrorist.

But Parliament faulted the executive noting ONLF was not a terrorist organisation. “After the investigation, the committee found out that the world does not recognise ONLF as a terrorist organisation since they do not exist in the list of international terrorist organisations,” the report notes.

Ethiopia classifies ONLF a terrorist organisation following the enactment of the controversial anti-terrorism law in 2010.

In the report endorsed by over 150 MPs Saturday, the House made a raft of recommendations but did not zero in on any specific reference to the fate of Qalbi Dhagah whose extraction it termed illegal.

Until a law on extraction is enacted, the report notes all matters relating to the extradition of suspects shall be halted. It cautions the government against taking unilateral decisions without adequate information and adherence to the law.

Security and intelligence departments have also come under the spotlight with the report warning them against issuing intelligence reports which have not been fully verified and determined to be based on facts.

Besides distancing itself from issuing way forward on the Qalbi Dhagah matter and absolving the cabinet of any wrong doing, the committee also did not determine the nationality of Qalbi Dhagah. It is not however clear if the scope of the committee’s investigations covered determination of citizenship of the embattled ONLF leader.