6:30 PM — Hundreds of Ethiopians in the Washington DC Area are holding candle light vigil for Ali Mohammed on 9th and U Street. The vigil started at 6 PM. [Read about Ali here]
[Photos by Abebe Belew and Fitsum Girma]
Vigil for Ali outside DC9 at 9th and U Street
Ali’s sister at the vigil
DC Councilman Jim Graham
Tamagn Beyene
|
|
Letter Ronald C. Machen Jr. US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia
Ronald C. Machen Jr.
US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia
555 4th street NW Washington, DC 20530.
Dear District Attorney Machen Jr.,
We are contacting you on behalf of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), an international social justice organization; committed to defending the rights of Ethiopians both in the Diaspora and within Ethiopia. We want to alert you to our serious concerns regarding the recent violent assault and subsequent death of a 27-year-old Ethiopian man, Ali Ahmed Mohammed, in Washington D.C. on October 15, 2010 at the hands of the owner and four employees from the nightclub, DC 9.
We do not defend Mr. Mohammed’s own actions that caused property damage to the DC 9 nightclub, but believe those reportedly involved in his brutal and horrific murder should be held accountable under the law of the United States of America. Instead of calling the police and letting the courts decide on the outcome, reports indicate that the owner and four of his employees from the DC 9 nightclub chased Mr. Mohammed down the street, threw him to the ground and then beat him and brutally stomped on his head and body. He died only 45 minutes later. What began as property damage to a window by Mr. Mohammed, led to a savage five-man gang assault against this one unarmed man.
We in the Ethiopian community are not only saddened by the loss of this man, we are also deeply disturbed by your office’s decision to amend the charges from Second Degree Murder to Aggravated Assault, despite the police reports and eyewitnesses that closely connect this brutal assault to Mr. Mohammed’s death. We would first ask why these charges were reduced; hoping that those original charges will soon be reinstated; however, if they are not, we would ask for an explanation.
We believe that transparency and rigorous adherence to the law can quell any suspicions; including concerns among Ethiopian Americans that somehow, his death will be attributed to other causes. Yet, as one can see from the picture above, the evidence that the attack was violent and vicious has left its bloody trail on the pavement.
There were also multiple eye-witnesses; both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian, who will be able to testify to the heavy blows on his head and body that would have easily caused his death less than an hour later.
Ethiopians throughout the world, many of whom are very connected to each other through new technologies, are closely watching this case. They are shocked by the amended charges, but still maintain hope in the integrity of the American justice system. In Washington DC alone, we have over 300,000 Ethiopian Americans who are good citizens, hard-working people and law-abiding. Most have come to this great American land after running away from the rampant injustice, lack of political rights and corruption within Ethiopia; a country where political alliances and cronyism regularly pervert justice.
We ask you to show us an irrefutable example of American justice being served; even if it requires independent medical examiners, forensic experts, independent investigators, a change of court venue or other actions that may become necessary to create greater trust in the system and its fair, non-biased outcome.
We in the SMNE, are standing together with other Ethiopians and justice-loving people to make sure that the rule of law is followed because this young man who died was not just an unknown Ethiopian immigrant or a young man with a Muslim name or someone who committed a wrongful property crime, but he is our American family member, one of us and above all, a human being created by God who did not deserve to die this way. We believe in humanity before anything else and that until justice is served to all; the justice of all is threatened.
As an organization representing the Ethiopian people, we in the SMNE have already contacted a major law firm in Washington DC about some of the facts of this case. They have agreed to work with the SMNE, the Ethiopian community and the family as questions, difficulties or issues arise surrounding this case. We are also willing to assist your office as able.
We look forward to hearing from you. For more information on the SMNE, you may view our website at: solidaritymovement.org.
Sincerely yours,
Obang Metho;
Executive Director of the SMNE
PO Box 50561
Arlington, VA 22205
Phone: (202) 725-1616
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.solidaritymovement.org
Ali Mohammed’s family and friends, in collaboration with Ethiopian civic groups in the Washington DC Metro Area, are holding a candle light vigil at corner of 9th and U Street tonight starting at 6 PM.
Ali, a young Ethiopian man, was savagely beaten and murdered by the owner of DC9 Night Club and 4 of his employees (read more here).
Over the weekend, the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America’s (ESFNA) board decided to invite Birtukan Mideksa as a guest of honor at its annual event (read here.) Today we have learned that the Woyanne-infiltrated 9-member executive committee of ESFNA is in the process of reversing the decision of the 39-member board to invite Birtukan. The executive committee took up the issue for reconsideration under pressure from Woyanne cadres and Al Amoudi’s thugs who made physical threats against the board members. For the past 5 years ESFNA has been hijacked by the Al Amoudi mafia led by Abinet Gebremeskel, even though most of the soccer players are patriotic Ethiopians. It seems this year the players have finally decided to fight back. The following are members of the ESFNA executive committee and board members. Let’s Bollinger them.
Human Rights Watch has released a 111-page report that discusses how the $3 billion Ethiopia’s dictatorship receives annual from foreign donors is fueling the Meles regime’s machinery of repression while contributing little or nothing for the country’s development. HRW writes:
Led by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the government has used donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities as political weapons to control the population, punish dissent, and undermine political opponents—both real and perceived. Local officials deny these people access to seeds and fertilizer, agricultural land, credit, food aid, and other resources for development.
… But development agencies have turned a blind eye to the Ethiopian government’s repression of civil and political rights, even though they recognize these rights to be central to sustainable socioeconomic development.
While the conclusion HRW has reached about the devastating effect of foreign aid on Ethiopia is not new, the facts and figures that are included in the report make the case for holding the donor agencies directly accountable for the atrocities that are being committed by the Meles brutal dictatorship. The Obama Administration, in particular, is a major disappointment since President Obama gave hope that he would not support “those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent.” Despite his promise, he is currently giving the Meles genocidal dictatorship over $1 billion per year.
The solution for Ethiopians is within us. We must not depend on any one to remove the Woyanne cancer. Let’s identify Woyanne’s soft targets and start hitting.
The Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) board members held a meeting over the weekend to plan for its annual event. Toward the end of the meeting, the board members voted to invite Birtukan Mideksa as a guest of honor by an overwhelming majority over the objection of some of the Woyanne/Al Amoudi supporters in the board.
The Woyanne supporters, including Sebsebe Assefa and Yaya Arega, were outraged at the decision to invite Birtukan and tried to physically attack some of the board members. In the past, Sebsebe and gang would often succeed in intimidating the board into doing any thing they want. However, this time the majority in the board stood its ground and pushed them back.
The next step the board needs to take is to kick out these Woyanne thugs from the Federation. Most of the soccer players, without whose participation the ESFNA cannot exist, are patriotic Ethiopians who despise Woyanne and its agents such as Al Amoudi.
The decision by the majority of ESFNA board members to select Birtukan Mideksa is the first major step in declaring the group’s independence from Woyanne businessman Al Amoudi who has infiltrated the organization through his top aid Abinet GebereMeskel and his thugs Sebsebe, Yaya, Endale Turfa and others. (A full list of Woyannes in the board will be made public shortly).
Abinet and gang were behind the August 3, 2010, Woyanne demonstration in Washington DC.
ESFNA will hold its next event in the City of Atlanta in July 2011.
Following recent consolidation of power by Ethiopia’s despot Meles Zenawi and his wife Azeb Mesfin, several high-ranking and mid-level members of the ruling Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) have lost their jobs. Many of these TPLFites have been living in houses given to them rent free by the Rental Housing Administration. Now that they are no longer working for the “government,” the agency asked them to move out, which led to armed confrontations in some instances.
During the past few days, the agency has been trying to enforce its order by sending its staff accompanied by police officers who are armed with hand guns and eviction notice. In every occasion, the agency personnel and the police were chased away by the TPLFites who pulled out bigger guns.
The housing agency has also been going after several large, multi-million-birr houses that were confiscated during the Derg regime but later returned to their owners. Last week the agency told hundreds of home owners to evacuate, or else face forcible eviction. The agency’s reason is that the owners did not present enough evidence showing ownership. Many of the houses were returned over 15 years ago. One family Ethiopian Review associates spoke with has been given less than a week to evacuate, even though they have provided all the necessary documents that prove their ownership.
Meanwhile, after a great deal of public outcry, the Meles regime has temporarily halted its plan to uproot the St. Yoseph Cemetery in Addis Ababa.
