Human rights in Djibouti  The issue of human rights in Djibouti, a small country situated within the Horn of Africa, is a matter of concern for several human rights organizations. In its 2011 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House ranked Djibouti as "Not Free", a downgrading from its former status as "Partly Free". The nation most recently saw martial violence in 2008, in the form of border clashes with neighbouring Eritrea. Djibouti gained independence from France in 1977, after a 98.8% of the electorate voted in favour of disengagement in a referendum. Hassan Gouled Aptidon became president and his political party, the People's Rally for Progress, was declared the sole legal party in 1981. It has remained in control ever since, under Aptidon until 1999, and Ismaïl Omar Guelleh thereafter. The following is a chart of Djibouti's ratings since 1977 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A rating of 1 is "free"; 7, "not free". Claims of political detentions and torture began almost immediately after independence. On 15 December 1977, seventeen supporters of the opposition Mouvement populaire de libération were arrested and tortured. In 1978, fifteen students, visiting from their studies abroad in Paris, were sentenced to months in jail and reportedly tortured for articles written by their student union in France. After an armed attack in 1979 in Randa, sixty Afars were detained and at least one died as a result of torture. It was claimed that many were arrested solely for their membership of the Mouvement populaire de libération. After a supposed assassination attempt on the Director of Security in June 1979 (the reality of which Amnesty International reported to be in doubt), nine political opponents, including two parliamentary deputies, were detained and tortured. One of these – Mohamed Houmed Mohamed – had previously delivered a parliamentary speech denouncing the government's use of torture. In August 1981 the Parti populaire Djiboutien sought legal recognition as a political party. In early September they released their first bulletin, and on 7 September all thirteen members of the Executive Committee were arrested, including six members of parliament. Included in the detainees was Mohamed Houmed Mohamed. Some of these members fled the country after release, but were again detained and tortured upon their return from exile. Reported torture methods under Aptidon include (but are not limited to): severe beatings; waterboarding; burnings; tearing out of fingernails; electric shocks; prolonged exposure to smoke resulting in near-asphyxiation; "The Swing", in which the naked victim was suspended from a bar by his ankles; and insertions of bottles into the anus.