(OPride) \u2014 The United States in a scathing report on Thursday accused Ethiopia of curtailing freedom of expression and association, using politically motivated trials, harassment and intimidation of activists and journalists.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia holds estimated 70,000-80,000 persons, including some 2,500 women and nearly 600 children incarcerated with their mothers, in severely overcrowded six federal and 120 regional prisons, the U.S. said in its voluminous\u00a02013 Human Rights Report<\/a>\u00a0released by Secretary of State John Kerry. \u201cThere also were many unofficial detention centers throughout the country, including in Dedessa, Bir Sheleko, Tolay, Hormat, Blate, Tatek, Jijiga, Holeta, and Senkele,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n While it said pretrial detention in local police stations were marred with poor hygiene and police abuse, the report also highlighted impunity for security forces who often commit politically-motivated killings against dissidents and opposition party members as \u201ca serious problem.\u201d The Ethiopian government rarely, if ever, took actions \u201cto prosecute or otherwise punish officials who committed abuses other than corruption,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n The report named some of the well-known political prisoners and journalists including Eskinder Nega, Bekele Gerba, Olbana Lelisa, Reeyot Alemu and Woubeshet Taye<\/strong>.\u201cFederal Supreme Court upheld the 2012 convictions under the criminal code of Bekele Gerba and Olbana Lelisa, two well-known political opposition figures from the Oromo ethnic group, for conspiracy to overthrow the government and conspiracy to incite unrest,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Supreme Court subsequently determined the Federal High Court did not consider mitigating circumstances and reduced Bekele\u2019s sentence from eight years to three years and seven months. The Supreme Court also reduced Olbana\u2019s sentenced from 13 to 11 years. Courts convicted 69 members of Oromo political opposition parties, charged separately in 2011 under the criminal code with \u201cattacking the political or territorial integrity of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerba,\u00a0who has fully served out his reduced time<\/a>, was widely expected to be released last month. However,\u00a0according to family sources<\/a>, prison officials gave conflicting reasons for his continued imprisonment, including that his time at the Maekelawi prison doesn\u2019t count or his file was misplaced. Meanwhile,\u00a0both Gerba and Lelisa are reportedly ill<\/a>\u00a0with restricted and limited medical care.<\/p>\n Terminally ill<\/strong><\/p>\n Lelisa is a longtime Oromo rights activist with Oromo Peoples Congress (OPC), who rose through the ranks of the organization from a sole member to top leadership. He competed in the last three elections representing the Caliya district in West Shewa. He was elected to the Oromia regional parliament in 2005. He was subsequently arrested on concocted charges of plotting to overthrow government by working with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), recruiting youth for armed rebellion and for inciting the frequent youth revolt in Ambo and West Shewa.<\/p>\n Lelisa, who has so far served three years of the 11 years sentence, reports being mistreated while in prison. He has repeatedly been beaten by unidentified men at Kaliti prison with orders from security services. He has sustained serious wounds from the beatings by government agents who pose as prisoners, according to OPride sources. Lelisa, who is terminally ill and said to be on a long-term medication for undisclosed condition, had repeatedly appealed to the higher court about his mistreatment but received no response to date.<\/p>\n Singling out the Oromo<\/strong><\/p>\n While the State Department\u2019s report is short on details, there are several evidences that show the Ethiopian government continues to single out Oromo dissidents. Last year, the OLF released\u00a0a partial list (independently verified by a reputable OPride source) of 528 individuals\u00a0<\/a>sentenced to death and life imprisonment on purely political grounds.<\/p>\n The list includes names of individuals, their gender, and ethnic backgrounds. Underscoring the disproportionate repression of the Oromo, of the 528 individuals who were sentenced to death or life imprisonment by the Ethiopian courts, 459 are Oromo nationals followed by 52 Amhara nationals. \u201cThis list clearly indicates that the minority regime in Ethiopia is using its kangaroo courts for destroying Oromo and Amhara nationals who are viewed as potential threat to the regimes hold on to power,\u201d one informant, who asked not to be named, told OPride.<\/p>\n As documented by various international human rights organizations, today, it is a serious crime, under the Tigrean dominated Ethiopian government to support any independent Oromo organization. Thousands of Oromos have been imprisoned, tortured and killed extra-judicially for no apparent reason other than expressing Oromo national feeling and for their support of Oromo organizations such as the OLF.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The selective and systematic targeting of Oromo in Ethiopia by the current began in 1992 when the OLF which jointly ruled Ethiopia from 1991-1992 \u00a0with the Tigrayan Liberation Front (TPLF) was banned and its members and supporters jailed for years and hundreds executed without due process of law. Although Oromia, the Oromo regional state in Ethiopia, is autonomous in name, the Oromo do not have any meaningful voice in the affairs of their own state, which is totally controlled by the TPLF.<\/p>\n The later represents no more than seven percent of the population of Ethiopia, while the Oromo, who constitute the single largest national group in Ethiopia and the third largest national group in the whole of Africa. The Oromo are denied the basic democratic rights to organize freely and legally and express their political opinions. There is no single independent newspaper or media outlet catering to the Oromo populace in their native tongue.<\/p>\n The TPLF fears the Oromo numerical strength deliberately characterizes all independent Oromo organizations, which it does not control as the \u201cterror wing\u201d of the OLF. \u00a0The goal for such characterization is to persecute peaceful supporters of the OLF behind the fa\u00e7ade of fighting against a \u201c terrorist organization.\u201d Under the anti-terror law of the current Ethiopian regime, anyone who is suspected of peacefully supporting the OLF, could be sentenced to life imprisonment or executed. The above mentioned 459 Oromo nationals who were sentenced to death or life imprisonment are all \u00a0suspected OLF supporters.<\/p>\n Destroying the lives of 528 innocent human beings on political ground is a crime against humanity, which must be condemned by all civilized nations. The tearless cry of the U.S. AnnuaL Human Rights report notwithstanding, at this moment no calling is more urgent and more noble and no responsibility greater for those who believe in human rights than raising their voice for pressuring the government of Ethiopia to free the 528 innocent individuals who were sentenced to death and life imprisonment \u00a0on purely political grounds.<\/p>\n In the last year alone, two Oromo activists have died in prison under mysterious circumnances. Last year, OPride reported about the death in prison of former UNHCR recognized refugee,\u00a0engineer Tesfahun Chemeda<\/a>. Last month, a former parliamentary candidate from Chalenqo in Western Hararghe, Ahmed Nejash died in prison. According to an OPC source,\u00a0Nejash\u00a0successfully run and challenegd Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and Development,\u00a0during the 2010 elections. He was subsequently arrested in 2011 alleged of being an OLF activist. Although his death recieved scant media coverage even within the Oromo community,\u00a0a close relative of the late Jarra Abba Gadaa<\/a>, Nejash is one of the veterans of Oromo people’s struggle. “He was sentenced to seven years, which was also upheld by the higher court,” the OPC told OPride source said. “He was in Zuway with Bekele and Olbana and he was healthy\u00a0the last time I saw him in 2013.”<\/p>\n Source: Opride<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n