tirsdag 22. oktober 2013
Are Oromos Singled Out and Disproportionately Tortured in Ethiopia?
Image: Courtesy of TASSC International
You may ask people in Oromia, what is the language most widely spoken in Ethiopia's prisons? Who are the ethnic groups singled out and subjected to extreme torture in Ethiopia's notorious torture facilities? The answers to both questions are Afan Oromo (the Oromo language), and the Oromo people respectively. People have pointed to this time and again to the point that torture and political imprisonments are almost becoming synonymous with one ethnicity in Ethiopia, the Oromo people.
Let's first put things in further perspective before proceeding to the discussion on the torture report released by Human Rights Watch.
According to Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (2010/2011 cited in Ayyaantuu.com, 2011), Ethiopia contributes 47.8 percent of the word's torture survivors who flee to the U.S.,making Ethiopia the number one country in Africa and the world with the most numerous torture survivors of the 13 countries listed. Regional human rights abusers such as Eritrea and Sudan contribute 6.5 and 2.2 percent respectively. Of the 47.8 percent torture survivors from Ethiopia, the overwhelming majority who have come forward and testified are Oromo survivors. Some survivors have acted as "Truth speakers", giving testimonies of their experiences in Ethiopia's torture chambers.
Human Rights Watch just released a riveting account of torture in Maekelawi (comparable to Auschwitz of the Nazi era and Gitmo of the post-9/11 period). This report focuses only on one of hundreds of secret and open torture prisons in Oromia and Ethiopia. The conditions Oromo political prisoners, including school children, who have barely come of age, face in Maekelawi and Kaliti and other facilities of torture is similar to those faced by the Jewish community during the Holocaust. The comparison to Gitmo might be a little far-fetched since Oromo detainees are innocent and unarmed civilians who get thrown into torture prisons in most cases for no other valid reasons than their default belonging in a nationality group that is different, politicized and competing with the nationality group that controls the levers of power through totalitarian parties known as the Tigire Peoples Liberation Front/ The Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front.
I often get asked by Faranjii sympathizers with the Oromo conditions questions such as: did anybody try to sneak cameras into prisons and expose the tortures? Did anyone interview survivors of torture and human rights abuses and archive the information? Why is the Oromo diaspora reluctant and secretive to testify about the torture inflicted on them or on their family members in the homeland? Often, one finds oneself short of answers when faced with such pressing questions from aliens who care about Oromo.
When it comes to the Oromos doing the work by themselves, the answers to the above questions are resounding NOs, but luckily one could point to the organized work of Oromia Support Group and The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa for their specialty in putting specific ethno-national face to oft effaced torture in Oromia, Ethiopia.
You can add Human Rights Watch's, “They Want a Confession”:Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station," to the list of important reports. This is a response to the 76-pages report on the use of torture by the Ethiopian "government" to extract information from political detainees, the largest of whom happen to be from Oromo people.
HRW obtained interview data from over 35 former Maekelawi detainees and their family members of which the most poignant ones are acts of torture perpetrated on two Oromo students:
1) B.G., an Oromo student who was detained for eight days in cell number 8 in mid-2011, described the cell:This cell is partitioned into four others. I was in 8.2 [numbered as such], so they can identify the prisoners. There were four rooms with four people.They were very dark and narrow. The cell was made up of stones with a door and window of metal, there are no holes, and it is totally dark. These cells were only for the people they want to hurt more. There is no space for two people in these cells. I could only sit down and I could not stretch out. There is no toilet—you use the cell as a toilet (HRW, 2013: 29).
Put yourself in B.G.'s shoes and imagine how hard it might be to be targeted with such extreme torture methods in a dark room, possibly for years. Add to that a complication that no one, not even Human Rights Watch bothers to ask or understand: who are these people who are being disproportionately tortured in Ethiopia's prison? Who are those who are not and so forth?These are commonsense questions, but answers to them can be very revealing as the ethnicity of those being tortured in Ethiopia are effaced under general and dubious labels such as the one by Human Rights Watch above, which makes it appear as if all ethno-national groups are equally targeted with torture and mass atrocity. They are not--the historic and current ruling ethno-national groups are more or less spared the extreme tribulations the Oromo have to go through based on tramped-up charges.
Also, below is another interesting text relating to the patterns of torture against Oromo students:
[2] L.V., an Oromo student held in Maekelawi in 2012, said his hand was broken when he was beaten on his hand while being held in this position and that over a year later his hand continues to hurt: In the interrogation room there was small piece of metal on the wall. They put me on it and locked my left hand to the wall and then my legs didn’t touch the ground. They beat me on my left hand. I think I was there one
hour, but I don’t know as I lost my memory (HRW, 2013: 34)
These texts are just the tip of the iceberg about what happens in Maekalwi and other torture prisons since many Oromos who end up in Ethiopia's torture prisons barely survive to tell the stories, as in the case of Tesfahun Chemeda and thousands of others who died from barbaric acts of torture inflicted up on them for purposes of extracting information and for many other reasons, including for terrorizing the victims and making them spectacles of violence to discourage other actually or potentially dissenting Oromos.
It's not new or surprising that Ethiopia is party to many treaties and conventions on torture and human rights violations. What is surprising is the lack of will among the so-called international community to disinvest from Ethiopia or to enforce regional and international laws to end the kind of torture that singles out members of a single ethnic group.
Many more activists like Tesfahun Chemeda will be killed in prisons, many more school children like B.G. and L.V. are going to endure torture at Maekelawi or elsewhere, while foreign aid keeps flowing into the EPRDF regime's coffer unabated, emboldening the torture nation of Africa, Ethiopia, to even torture more without accountability.
Reports can expose injustice and making headlines can make us happy temporarily, but as long as they are not followed-up by international or regional actions, they just raise our hopes and disappoint us more, but we still need them so the stories of those people who have paid heavy prices are not lost in vain. We wait hopefully for actions to follow words while also reinvigorating our will and ability to come forward and tell these crucial stories.
go to link http://oromopress.blogspot.no/2013/10/are-oromos-singled-out-and.html
|
| Image: Courtesy of TASSC International |
You may ask people in Oromia, what is the language most widely spoken in Ethiopia's prisons? Who are the ethnic groups singled out and subjected to extreme torture in Ethiopia's notorious torture facilities? The answers to both questions are Afan Oromo (the Oromo language), and the Oromo people respectively. People have pointed to this time and again to the point that torture and political imprisonments are almost becoming synonymous with one ethnicity in Ethiopia, the Oromo people.
Let's first put things in further perspective before proceeding to the discussion on the torture report released by Human Rights Watch.
According to Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (2010/2011 cited in Ayyaantuu.com, 2011), Ethiopia contributes 47.8 percent of the word's torture survivors who flee to the U.S.,making Ethiopia the number one country in Africa and the world with the most numerous torture survivors of the 13 countries listed. Regional human rights abusers such as Eritrea and Sudan contribute 6.5 and 2.2 percent respectively. Of the 47.8 percent torture survivors from Ethiopia, the overwhelming majority who have come forward and testified are Oromo survivors. Some survivors have acted as "Truth speakers", giving testimonies of their experiences in Ethiopia's torture chambers.
Human Rights Watch just released a riveting account of torture in Maekelawi (comparable to Auschwitz of the Nazi era and Gitmo of the post-9/11 period). This report focuses only on one of hundreds of secret and open torture prisons in Oromia and Ethiopia. The conditions Oromo political prisoners, including school children, who have barely come of age, face in Maekelawi and Kaliti and other facilities of torture is similar to those faced by the Jewish community during the Holocaust. The comparison to Gitmo might be a little far-fetched since Oromo detainees are innocent and unarmed civilians who get thrown into torture prisons in most cases for no other valid reasons than their default belonging in a nationality group that is different, politicized and competing with the nationality group that controls the levers of power through totalitarian parties known as the Tigire Peoples Liberation Front/ The Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front.
I often get asked by Faranjii sympathizers with the Oromo conditions questions such as: did anybody try to sneak cameras into prisons and expose the tortures? Did anyone interview survivors of torture and human rights abuses and archive the information? Why is the Oromo diaspora reluctant and secretive to testify about the torture inflicted on them or on their family members in the homeland? Often, one finds oneself short of answers when faced with such pressing questions from aliens who care about Oromo.
When it comes to the Oromos doing the work by themselves, the answers to the above questions are resounding NOs, but luckily one could point to the organized work of Oromia Support Group and The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa for their specialty in putting specific ethno-national face to oft effaced torture in Oromia, Ethiopia.
You can add Human Rights Watch's, “They Want a Confession”:Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station," to the list of important reports. This is a response to the 76-pages report on the use of torture by the Ethiopian "government" to extract information from political detainees, the largest of whom happen to be from Oromo people.
HRW obtained interview data from over 35 former Maekelawi detainees and their family members of which the most poignant ones are acts of torture perpetrated on two Oromo students:
1) B.G., an Oromo student who was detained for eight days in cell number 8 in mid-2011, described the cell:This cell is partitioned into four others. I was in 8.2 [numbered as such], so they can identify the prisoners. There were four rooms with four people.They were very dark and narrow. The cell was made up of stones with a door and window of metal, there are no holes, and it is totally dark. These cells were only for the people they want to hurt more. There is no space for two people in these cells. I could only sit down and I could not stretch out. There is no toilet—you use the cell as a toilet (HRW, 2013: 29).
Put yourself in B.G.'s shoes and imagine how hard it might be to be targeted with such extreme torture methods in a dark room, possibly for years. Add to that a complication that no one, not even Human Rights Watch bothers to ask or understand: who are these people who are being disproportionately tortured in Ethiopia's prison? Who are those who are not and so forth?These are commonsense questions, but answers to them can be very revealing as the ethnicity of those being tortured in Ethiopia are effaced under general and dubious labels such as the one by Human Rights Watch above, which makes it appear as if all ethno-national groups are equally targeted with torture and mass atrocity. They are not--the historic and current ruling ethno-national groups are more or less spared the extreme tribulations the Oromo have to go through based on tramped-up charges.
Also, below is another interesting text relating to the patterns of torture against Oromo students:
[2] L.V., an Oromo student held in Maekelawi in 2012, said his hand was broken when he was beaten on his hand while being held in this position and that over a year later his hand continues to hurt: In the interrogation room there was small piece of metal on the wall. They put me on it and locked my left hand to the wall and then my legs didn’t touch the ground. They beat me on my left hand. I think I was there one
hour, but I don’t know as I lost my memory (HRW, 2013: 34)
These texts are just the tip of the iceberg about what happens in Maekalwi and other torture prisons since many Oromos who end up in Ethiopia's torture prisons barely survive to tell the stories, as in the case of Tesfahun Chemeda and thousands of others who died from barbaric acts of torture inflicted up on them for purposes of extracting information and for many other reasons, including for terrorizing the victims and making them spectacles of violence to discourage other actually or potentially dissenting Oromos.
It's not new or surprising that Ethiopia is party to many treaties and conventions on torture and human rights violations. What is surprising is the lack of will among the so-called international community to disinvest from Ethiopia or to enforce regional and international laws to end the kind of torture that singles out members of a single ethnic group.
Many more activists like Tesfahun Chemeda will be killed in prisons, many more school children like B.G. and L.V. are going to endure torture at Maekelawi or elsewhere, while foreign aid keeps flowing into the EPRDF regime's coffer unabated, emboldening the torture nation of Africa, Ethiopia, to even torture more without accountability.
Reports can expose injustice and making headlines can make us happy temporarily, but as long as they are not followed-up by international or regional actions, they just raise our hopes and disappoint us more, but we still need them so the stories of those people who have paid heavy prices are not lost in vain. We wait hopefully for actions to follow words while also reinvigorating our will and ability to come forward and tell these crucial stories.
go to link http://oromopress.blogspot.no/2013/10/are-oromos-singled-out-and.html
mandag 21. oktober 2013
ONLF fighters attack Kebridahar Airport
Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen and his delegation lands at Godey Airport
October 21, 2013 (Ogadentoday Press)- Ogaden National Liberation Front “ONLF,” official have claimed that their fighters attacked on Kebridahar town Airport on last week.
Our aim for this attack was to disrupt the visiting delegation in Ogaden and send a clear message to the puppet administration that serves only the colonial agendas in our people and land. The official said to Ogadentoday Press on the phone.
Speaking on the attack the official said that they have killed several Ethiopian Troops at the airport and destroyed two vehicles.
This was a co-ordinated attack and went successfully, the official said.
The puppet administration was hiding the attack but the military leaders informed the delegation, said the official citing their intelligence in the Ogaden.
I can confirm to you that, it was midnight and they have been waiting to welcome the federal delegation in the morning.
There is no comment from Ethiopia government.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen, nine regional leaders, domestic and foreign investors were visiting Ogaden Region last week.
According to Ethiopian government, the domestic investors are interesting to invest the agricultural sector in Ogaden.
Ogaden National Liberation Front, a secessionist group fighting for the independence of Ogaden warns the foreign oil companies in Ogaden, and attacked in 2007 a Chinese oil field in Ogaden.
According to the source, ONLF were watching closely the visit and Pro- ONLF site “Ogaden News Agency (ONA) published that, ONLF fighters are on the high alert.
The arid Somali (or Ogaden) region of Ethiopia, home to some 7-8 million ethnic Somalis has been isolated from the world since 2005, when the government imposed a ban on all international media and most humanitarian groups from operating in the area.
go to link http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/ogaden/onlf-fighters-attack-kebridahar-airport/
Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen and his delegation lands at Godey Airport
go to link http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/ogaden/onlf-fighters-attack-kebridahar-airport/
በዲሲ እና አከባቢዋ የሚኖሩ የኦሮሞ ማህበረሰብ ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ያላቸዉን አድናቆት ገለጹ
ደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ታዋቂ ደራሲ እና ጋዜጠኛ ሲሆን ቀልብን በሚስቡ የሥነ- ጽሁፍ ችሎታው ብዙ መጽፍትን ጽፎ ለአንባቢያን አቅርቧል የኦሮሞን ህዝብ ፖለቲካዊ ታርካዊ ማህበራዊ ባህላዊ እና ሁለንተናዊ ማንነቱን የሚገለጹ ጽሁፎችን በማቅረብ ይታወቃል ለምሣሌ የቡርቃ ዝምታ የጋዜጠኛዉ ማስታወሻ እና የስደተኛዉ ማስታወሻ የተሰኙት መጽፎቹ በአንድም ይሁን በሌላ መልኩ ስለ ኦሮሞ ህዝብ ያትታሉ በተለይም በቅርብ ጊዜ ለንባብ የበቃዉ የስደተኛዉ ማስታወሻ የተሰኘዉ መጽሃፉን ለማሳተም ነፃነት አሳታሚ ከሚባል ድርጅት ጋር ከተነጋገረ በኋላ ይሄዉ ድርጅት “ጫልቱ እንደ ሄለን” የተኘዉን አንዱን ምዕራፍ በማስቀረት መጽሃፉን እንደገና አሻሽልሎ እንዲጽፍ በተስፋዬ ላይ ጫና ፈጥሮ መጽሃፉ እንደማይታተም ቢያስፈራራም ተስፋዬ ጥያቄዉን ባለመቀበል ኪሳራዉን በጸጋ ተቀብሎ መጽሃፉ በነፃ ለአንባቢዉ እንዲደርስ ያደረገ ጀግና ነዉ::
ከቅርብ ጊዜ ወዲህ እራሳቸዉን ብቸኛዉ የኢትዮዽያ አንድነት ጠባቂ እና አስጠባቂ አድርገዉ የሾሙ ፀረ-አንድነት የሆኑ የዲያስፖራ አባላት በኦሮሞነት እና በኦሮሞ ህዝብ ላይ ተደጋጋሚ ጥቃቶችን ሲሰነዝሩ ይስተዋላሉ ከወራት በፊት ታዋቂዉ ወጣቱ የፖለቲካ ተንታኝ ጀዋር መሐመድ ኦሮሞነቱን በአለም አቀፍ ምዲያ ላይ በመግለጹ ብቻ ከፍተኛ የሆነ የስም ማጥፋት ዘመቻ (Character Assassination) ሰለባ መሆኑ ይታወቃል ይሄዉ የስም ማጥፋት ዘመቻ ዛሬ በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ አድማሱን በማስፋት ቀጥሏል በዚሁ መሰረት ደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብን “በሻዕቢያ ሰላይነት” አስፈርጆታል ለዚሁም እንደ ማስረጃ ያቀረቡበት እርስ በእርሱ የሚምታታ እና ምንም ተአማኒነት የለሌዉ የተለመደ ዉንጀላ ነዉ::
በዚሁ ምክንያት በደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ላይ ሊደርስ የሚችለዉን ቁሳዊና ሞራላዊ ኪሳራ ከግምት ዉስጥ በማስገባት በዲሲ እና አከባቢዋ የሚኖሩ የኦሮሞ ማህበረሰብ አባላት ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ያላቸዉን ልዩ አድናቆት እና ክብር ገልጸዋል በዝግጅቱ ላይ የተለያዩ ዉይይቶች የተደረጉ ሲሆን አንዳንድ ሰዎች በኢትዮዽያ እምፓየር ዉስጥ በኦሮሞነታቸዉ ቢቻ የደረሰባቸዉን ግፍ እና መከራ ለታዳሚዉ በማቅርረብ ከዚህ አንጻር ሲታይ ደራሲ ተስፋዬ በጽሁፉ ያቀረበዉ በኦሮሞ ህዝብ ላይ የተፈጸመዉ የግፍ ታሪክ ዉቂያኖስን በማንኪያ እንደ መጭለፍ ያክል ነዉ ብለዋል በመጨረሻም እነዚህ የኢትዮዽያ አንድነት የሚል የማስመሰያ ጭምብል በማጥለቅ የብሄር ብሄረሰቦችን የግፍ ታሪክ ለማፈን የማይቦዝኑ ሃይሎችን እንደ ተስፋዬ ያሉ ጀግኖችን በመደገፍ ልንታገላቸዉ ይገባል ብለዋል::
ምስጋና ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ
ደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ታዋቂ ደራሲ እና ጋዜጠኛ ሲሆን ቀልብን በሚስቡ የሥነ- ጽሁፍ ችሎታው ብዙ መጽፍትን ጽፎ ለአንባቢያን አቅርቧል የኦሮሞን ህዝብ ፖለቲካዊ ታርካዊ ማህበራዊ ባህላዊ እና ሁለንተናዊ ማንነቱን የሚገለጹ ጽሁፎችን በማቅረብ ይታወቃል ለምሣሌ የቡርቃ ዝምታ የጋዜጠኛዉ ማስታወሻ እና የስደተኛዉ ማስታወሻ የተሰኙት መጽፎቹ በአንድም ይሁን በሌላ መልኩ ስለ ኦሮሞ ህዝብ ያትታሉ በተለይም በቅርብ ጊዜ ለንባብ የበቃዉ የስደተኛዉ ማስታወሻ የተሰኘዉ መጽሃፉን ለማሳተም ነፃነት አሳታሚ ከሚባል ድርጅት ጋር ከተነጋገረ በኋላ ይሄዉ ድርጅት “ጫልቱ እንደ ሄለን” የተኘዉን አንዱን ምዕራፍ በማስቀረት መጽሃፉን እንደገና አሻሽልሎ እንዲጽፍ በተስፋዬ ላይ ጫና ፈጥሮ መጽሃፉ እንደማይታተም ቢያስፈራራም ተስፋዬ ጥያቄዉን ባለመቀበል ኪሳራዉን በጸጋ ተቀብሎ መጽሃፉ በነፃ ለአንባቢዉ እንዲደርስ ያደረገ ጀግና ነዉ::
ከቅርብ ጊዜ ወዲህ እራሳቸዉን ብቸኛዉ የኢትዮዽያ አንድነት ጠባቂ እና አስጠባቂ አድርገዉ የሾሙ ፀረ-አንድነት የሆኑ የዲያስፖራ አባላት በኦሮሞነት እና በኦሮሞ ህዝብ ላይ ተደጋጋሚ ጥቃቶችን ሲሰነዝሩ ይስተዋላሉ ከወራት በፊት ታዋቂዉ ወጣቱ የፖለቲካ ተንታኝ ጀዋር መሐመድ ኦሮሞነቱን በአለም አቀፍ ምዲያ ላይ በመግለጹ ብቻ ከፍተኛ የሆነ የስም ማጥፋት ዘመቻ (Character Assassination) ሰለባ መሆኑ ይታወቃል ይሄዉ የስም ማጥፋት ዘመቻ ዛሬ በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ አድማሱን በማስፋት ቀጥሏል በዚሁ መሰረት ደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብን “በሻዕቢያ ሰላይነት” አስፈርጆታል ለዚሁም እንደ ማስረጃ ያቀረቡበት እርስ በእርሱ የሚምታታ እና ምንም ተአማኒነት የለሌዉ የተለመደ ዉንጀላ ነዉ::
በዚሁ ምክንያት በደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ላይ ሊደርስ የሚችለዉን ቁሳዊና ሞራላዊ ኪሳራ ከግምት ዉስጥ በማስገባት በዲሲ እና አከባቢዋ የሚኖሩ የኦሮሞ ማህበረሰብ አባላት ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ ያላቸዉን ልዩ አድናቆት እና ክብር ገልጸዋል በዝግጅቱ ላይ የተለያዩ ዉይይቶች የተደረጉ ሲሆን አንዳንድ ሰዎች በኢትዮዽያ እምፓየር ዉስጥ በኦሮሞነታቸዉ ቢቻ የደረሰባቸዉን ግፍ እና መከራ ለታዳሚዉ በማቅርረብ ከዚህ አንጻር ሲታይ ደራሲ ተስፋዬ በጽሁፉ ያቀረበዉ በኦሮሞ ህዝብ ላይ የተፈጸመዉ የግፍ ታሪክ ዉቂያኖስን በማንኪያ እንደ መጭለፍ ያክል ነዉ ብለዋል በመጨረሻም እነዚህ የኢትዮዽያ አንድነት የሚል የማስመሰያ ጭምብል በማጥለቅ የብሄር ብሄረሰቦችን የግፍ ታሪክ ለማፈን የማይቦዝኑ ሃይሎችን እንደ ተስፋዬ ያሉ ጀግኖችን በመደገፍ ልንታገላቸዉ ይገባል ብለዋል::
ምስጋና ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ
ምስጋና ለደራሲ ተስፋዬ ገብረአብ
Ethiopia: Torture in the heart of Addis, even as leaders gather in gleaming AU building
Laetitia Bader
October 21, 2013 (HRW) — Many journalists and diplomats who attend events in Addis Ababa’s gleaming new African Union building are probably unaware that it rests on the site of one of Ethiopia’s most notorious prisons. While that prison was torn down in 2007, its legacy of torture and abuse continues today at the heart of the capital.
Over the past year, I have spoken to dozens of people who were held in a detention centre called Maekelawi in central Addis. They described dire conditions and a range of abusive interrogation methods to extract information and confessions.
Since 2011, scores of high-profile individuals have been detained in Maekelawi under Ethiopia’s draconian anti-terrorism law, including journalists and opposition politicians, and held for months under the law’s lengthy pre-charge detention period as their “cases” are prepared for trial.
“Getachew,” a 22-year-old ethnic Oromo, was snatched from his university dorm, driven hundreds of kilometres to Addis Ababa, and locked up for eight months in Maekelawi. His parents were never informed of his whereabouts; he was never charged or given access to a lawyer; and never appeared before court. He was ultimately released on condition that he would work for the government.
Like Getachew, many of the people detained in Maekelawi over the past decade are political prisoners — arrested because of their ethnicity, their real or perceived political opinions and actions, or journalism work. Voicing peaceful dissent or criticism of government policy is increasingly risky.
In a new report, ‘They Want a Confession’: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station, Human Rights Watch documents how the police who run Maekelawi have tortured and ill-treated detainees during investigations. Former detainees held in the facility since 2010 described how investigators slapped, kicked, and beat them with batons and gun butts. Some were held in painful stress positions for hours upon end.
Some are held in solitary confinement for days or months. Getachew said he was held alone and shackled for five months: “When I wanted to stand up it was hard,” he told me. “I had to use my head, legs, and the walls to stand up.”
Those held in Maekelawi’s two worst detention blocks, nicknamed by residents Chalama Bet [dark house] and Tawla Bet [wooden house], described particularly dire conditions.
To make matters worse, investigators use access to basic facilities and needs to punish or reward detainees. Even access to the toilet can depend on the whim of the police, as Getachew explained: “I was only allowed to use the toilet once a day, although after two or three months, I was allowed twice… They want to get something, and either they get some evidence or they don’t.”
Access to daylight is also restricted; one person said that he was taken outside for just a few minutes three times in 42 days in the dark cells. Several former Chalama Bet detainees complained of lasting vision problems.
Detainees have also been denied access to their families and legal counsel, particularly those detained on politically motivated charges.
Former detainees described being forced, often while being verbally abused and beaten, to sign statements and confessions for crimes they did not commit. Sometimes the confessions are presented in court as evidence or used to put pressure on those released to support the government and ruling party, as in Getachew’s case.
Most recently, the prosecution submitted statements gathered in Maekelawi from prominent members of the country’s Muslim community who were charged under the anti-terrorism law in 2012 for organising peaceful protests. There is credible information that several of the defendants were mistreated in Maekelawi, making their statements questionable.
The fate of those passing through Maekelawi’s gates is largely unknown to the outside world. Tackling the regular abuses of the rights of political prisoners’ right in the heart of the capital requires first acknowledging the violations and then making a commitment to address the culture of impunity among security forces.
Ethiopia’s leaders should publicly state that torture and other ill treatment is prohibited, and should take concrete steps to hold to account those found responsible for these abuses.
Most important, the Ethiopian government should ensure that no one is ever arrested for exercising their basic rights, including by peacefully expressing their political opinions.
That means urgently overhauling Ethiopia’s draconian civil society and counter-terrorism laws. But change is unlikely to happen unless key regional actors such as the African Union, the African Commission on Human Rights Peoples’ Rights, and Ethiopia’s foreign donors make their concerns known.
Turning a blind eye to the abuses in the centre of Addis Ababa should no longer be an option.
Laetitia BaderIsrael's New Racism: The Persecution of African Migrants in the Holy Land
Published on Oct 17, 2013
About 60,000 African migrants have arrived in Israel since 2006, fleeing unrest in their home countries. But upon arrival in the ostensibly democratic country, the migrants have faced intense persecution and have been branded as "infiltrators" by right-wing politicians and activists.
For more, read Max Blumenthal's article, "Israel Cranks Up the PR Machine," http://bit.ly/19870PJ
For more, read Max Blumenthal's article, "Israel Cranks Up the PR Machine," http://bit.ly/19870PJ
Category
License
Standard YouTube License
Abonner på:
Innlegg (Atom)