Suspected war criminal, accused of torture and directing mass executions while a colonel in the Somalian Security Force, Yusuf Abdi Ali has been living in the U.S. and driving for Uber and Lyft. (According to public accounts, “Ali moved to Canada after the Somali military regime he worked under collapsed in 1991. He was deported after news about his alleged war crimes in Somalia became public through that CBC documentary. He then entered the U.S. on a visa through his Somali wife who became a US citizen. In 2006, his wife was found guilty of naturalization fraud for claiming she was a refugee from the very Somali clan that Ali is accused of torturing.”1 )
And according to his Uber profile, he’s been doing so for more than 18 months. Or had, until CNN caught up with him. Once their story broke, Ali was suspended from driving for Uber, while Lyft banned him from ever working for the company again.
Although Ali has yet to be convicted of a crime, a simple Google search of his name will show accounts alleging he committed various crimes during Somalia’s civil war in the 1980s and his past “was detailed in a documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that featured eyewitnesses in northern Somalia who described killings allegedly committed under the direction of Ali, also known as ‘Colonel Tukeh.'”1
Chilling.
Ali has denied all allegations against him.
“Ali’s work as a ride-share driver raises new questions about the thoroughness of Uber and Lyft’s background check process and the ease with which some people with controversial pasts can get approved to drive.
CNN previously reported that Uber and Lyft have approved thousands of people who should have been disqualified because of criminal records. Some of those Uber drivers have included a murderer on parole and a convicted felon who was later convicted for sexually assaulting an Uber passenger.”1
So what’s going on? Well, background checks for Uber and Lyft are almost exclusively performed by a company called Checkr. To check out an applicant, they use their name and Social Security number against a national sex offender database, federal and local court records, and databases used to flag suspected terrorists and others. But since Checkr relies on “public criminal records that have been adjudicated in a court of law” mistakes are bound to happen.
There is a current civil case against Ali even though no criminal court has jurisdiction to try Ali for alleged war crimes and Somalia has never been able to develop a complete justice system that could embark on a war crimes tribunal.
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