In an interview with Radio Garowe, Mr. Elmi said he was hit with the back of an assault rifle during the initial arrest.
"We are taken to Oog [Somaliland army base, 100km west of Las Anod] and some of us were beaten by the soldiers [there]," Mr. Elmi said.
After Oog, Elmi and fellow prisoners were taken to a jail in Burao, capital of Togdheer region in Somaliland. He said he was never informed of why he was detained during the trip from Las Anod to Burao.
The treatment at the Burao jail was not as bad as the initial arrest, Mr. Elmi said. But he said the major problem remained lack of freedom and the unsanitary conditions of the jail.
"We were allowed to have visitors and to use the phones...but we were in the same room with murderers and insane inmates," he said. Some inmates with serious cases of cholera were taken to the hospital during Mr. Elmi's 15-day stay in jail.
"I was most surprised by over 100 people from southern Somalia who have committed no crime but were arrested for their [Somali] accent, mostly people known as [Somali] Bantu, even some who lost their kids in Burao," Mr. Elmi said.
