A former senior commander of the Al-Shabaab militia group claims that his continued detention is political.
Mukhtar Robow Ali, also known as Abu Mansour, has been under house arrest for years.
He left the terror group in August 2017.
Initially, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) celebrated his defection.
However, a year later, the government arrested him as one way of stopping him from contesting Southwest State’s presidential elections.
He has remained in detention since then.
At the time of his defection, Abu Mansour had been Al-Shabaab’s deputy leader. The United States government even placed a bounty worth $5 million on his head.
On October 21, he spoke to the Voice of America from his Mogadishu house.
During his wide-ranging interview, Abu Mansour also stated his preference for the upcoming presidential elections in Somalia.
He said that Somalis should not reelect outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.
Abu Mansour reiterated his political ambitions to the VOA during Thursday’s interview.