Amnesty International

Further Information on UA 88/07 (AFR 25/002/2007, 16 April 2007) – Incommunicado detention/

Bashir Ahmed Makhtal (m), Canadian national
Halima Badrudine Hussein (f), Comorian national
Ayub Abdurazak (m), French resident
Tesfaldet Kidane Tesfasgi (m), Eritrean national, television cameraman
Saleh Idris Salim (m), Eritrean national, television journalist
Osman Ahmed Yassin (m), Swedish national
Sophia Abdi Nasir (f), Swedish national
Ines Chine (f), Tunisian national
Abdi Muhammed Abdillahi (m), Kenyan national

And up to 75 other men, women and children of various nationalities

Bashir Ahmed Maktal is at risk of ill-treatment or torture, as the government suspect him of links with an armed opposition group which attacked an oilfield in the east of the country on 24 April. He is believed to be detained incommunicado at the police Central Investigation Bureau (known as Maikelawi) in the capital, Addis Ababa, and has not been charged with any offence.

The Ethiopian authorities have acknowledged detaining 41 of more than 80 people who were arrested trying to cross from Somalia into Kenya, and have said 29 will be released. The whereabouts of the remaining detainees remain unknown.

The 24 April attack was carried out by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which is fighting for self determination for the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. Six Chinese and 65 Ethiopian workers were killed during the attack. Seven Chinese workers were abducted by the ONLF but released on 29 April.

The Ethiopian authorities suspect Bashir Ahmed Maktal, who is of ethnic Somali origin, of having links with the ONLF, and they have reportedly pressured him to confess this publicly. Amnesty International is concerned he may be ill-treated or tortured to make him “confess”.

Two Eritrean journalists who are held with Bashir Ahmed Maktal, Tesfaldet Kidane Tesfasgi and Saleh Idris Salim, were shown on Ethiopian TV and on a website called Waltainfo.com on 13 April. They were accused of being Eritrean soldiers sent by the Eritrean government to fight in Somalia against Somalia’s Ethiopia-supported government. Like Bashir Ahmed Maktal and others detained with them, they have had no access to legal counsel or their families, and have not been charged with any offence.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
– expressing concern at reports that Bashir Ahmed Maktal, Tesfaldet Kidane Tesfasgi and Saleh Idris Salim, who were arrested while trying to cross from Somalia into Kenya and later transferred to Ethiopia, are still detained without charge or trial;
– urging the authorities to ensure Bashir Ahmed Maktal is not ill-treated or tortured into making a television “confession”;
– urging the authorities to grant Bashir Ahmed Maktal, Tesfaldet Kidane Tesfasgi and Saleh Idris Salim immediate access to their lawyers and families;
– calling on the authorities to release all three immediately if they are not to be charged with recognizably criminal offences.