Opposition leader Bertukan Mideksa has been released from Kaliti jail after spending six hundred forty four days, one hundred forty of it in {www:solitary confinement}. We are happy she is reunited with her family and loved ones.
She was thrown into a rat infested jail not because she committed some dastardly crime but for the simple reason of demanding justice and the rule of law in her homeland. Bertukan was what is called a ‘political prisoner.’
The fact that she was the leader of the largest political party and the country was in the process of holding general elections was a {www:factor} in her imprisonment. Her determination to participate in the election process and her {www:overwhelming} popularity with the public was a cause of concern for those in power.
They solved their {www:dilemma} by the only way they know. Bribe, blackmail, jail, exile or kill are the options the TPLF regime brings to the table. They choose jailing in Birtukan’s case.
That it was the wrong choice has been made clear during her two years stay. Her imprisonment became a ‘cause celebre’ for the Ethiopian people. Her {www:incarceration} highlighted the absence of rule of law in Ethiopia. Chairman Birtukan became a rallying point. Her plight was discussed in the US Congress, European Parliament, Noble Prize Committee, Sakharov Prize and many other international awards. What the regime did to her became the {www:symbol} of what is wrong in Ethiopia.
Her freedom should be seen as a beginning of what is to come. Birtukan is but one of the many Ethiopian citizens languishing in Woyane jail because they were deemed to be a ‘threat’ to the ethnic regime. There are thousands of nameless Ethiopians still in jail. Today, as we celebrate the release of Birtukan let us not forget those thousands left behind.
We are not thankful to the regime nor do we see it in a different light. The release of one individual does not wash off the crimes against eighty million people. We know she was released because her country people would not stop invoking her name and her cause in every gathering.
If those in power think that her release would stop the struggle for freedom they are sadly mistaken. If they think releasing one of many will change how we look at our jailers they need to go back and study history. We assure them that the quest for freedom cannot be satisfied by some symbolic act or public relations {www:gimmick}.
Welcome home Chairman Birtukan; we have a lot of unfinished business awaiting us.
Birtukan Mideksa has been released today after spending over 600 days in jail, out of which 200 days in solitary confinement where she was subjected to mental torture. The Woyanne beasts released her having accomplished their mission of conducting a fake election and forming an illegitimate government. Awramba Times shares with us the following photos that show Birtukan greeting her supporters at her residence.
The arrest of Birtukan Mideksa was a criminal act in the first place
Ethiopian civic, political, and media groups, as well as activists in the Diaspora held a meeting today and issued the following statement on the release of Birtukan Mideksa:
After holding a sham election in May 2010, and forming a fake parliament and cabinet this week, Ethiopia’s tyrant Meles Zenawi has released Birtukan Mideksa, chairperson of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ), today.
It is well known that the regime re-arrested Birtukan Mideksa on December 29, 2008, on the flimsy charge of violating her terms of release by making a public statement that she did not ask for pardon in order to be released from prison in July 2007.
It is also clear that the Meles regime had thrown Birtukan in jail illegally in preparation for the fake election that it planned for May 2010.
Birtukan had languished in jail under inhumane condition from Nov. 2005 – July 2007, and again from Dec. 2008 until this month. Both times her arrest was a criminal act and a violation of the regime’s own constitution, further proving that there is no rule of law in Ethiopia under the Meles regime.
As we prepare to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the massacre of pro-democracy protesters next month, we hold the Meles regime accountable for the illegal detention of Birtukan Mideksa and tens of thousands of other political prisoners in Ethiopia.
We also strongly urge the international community to:
* demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia,
* demand the opening of political space
* urge the regime to respect the rule of law and fully respect human and civil rights, including freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.
We will not rest until freedom and democracy prevails in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Review sources in Addis Ababa are reporting that opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa has been released today.
Birtukan was thrown in jail by the ethnic apartheid {www:junta} in Ethiopia almost 2 years ago, Dec. 29, 2010.
Birtukan left Kality jail at 11:15 AM local time today. She was greeted by family members, friends, and hundreds of supporters who were waiting for her outside the prison.
After learning the news of her release, Ethiopian civic, political and media groups in the Diaspora held a meeting and issued a statement condemning the Woyanne junta for illegally arresting her in the first place. They also expressed through the statement their demand for the release of all the other prisoners of conscience who are languishing in prisons throughout the country (full text).
Reuters’ Barry Malone reports:
Ethiopia[‘s ruling junta] released the country’s most {www:prominent} opposition leader from jail on Wednesday, four months after the government’s landslide win in elections criticised by Western powers. Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge, is the leader of Ethiopia’s biggest opposition party, the Unity for Democracy and Justice.
She left a prison in the capital Addis Ababa in a car with her daughter and mother, a Reuters witness said. Supporters said she was going to her home.
Critics of the government say she was jailed because she was the main threat to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) at the May 23 election.
In a cabinet reshuffle that is announced today, Ethiopia’s khat-addicted dictator Meles Zenawi has replaced TPLF veterans Seyoum Mesfin and others with puppets like Hailemariam Desalegn (photo on the right). Dumber than a {www:door knob}, Hailemariam’s only qualification is the speed with which he wags his tail in front of Meles.
The new 21-member cabinet puppet galore looks as follows:
Abdulfeta Abdoulahi Hassen, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs
Abdurahman Sheik Ahmed, SPDP, Ministry of Trade
Alemayehu Tegenu, Ministry of Water and Energy
Amin Abdulkadir, Minister of Culture and Tourism
Bereket Simon, ANDM, Minister of Communications Affairs
DebreTsion GebreMariam, TPLF, Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Demeke Mekonen, ANDM, Minister of Education
Desse Dalke, Minister of Science and Technology
Diriba Kuma, Minister of Transport
Haile-Birhan, ANDM, Minister of Justice
Hailemariam Desalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Junedin Sado, OPDO, Minister of Civil Service
Melaku Fenta, Director of Revenue and Customs Authority
Mekuria Haile, Minister of Urban Development and Construction
Manyazewal Mekonnen, Minister of Industry (replacing Girma Biru)
Shiferaw TekleMariam, Minister of Federal Affairs
Sinknesh Ejigu, Minister of Mines
Siraj Fegeta, Minister of Defense
Suffian Ahmed, OPDO, Minister of Finance
Tewodros Adhanom, TPLF, Minister of Health
Zenebu Tadesse, Minister of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs
The cabinet is a rubber-stamp body as is the parliament. The real power is in the hands of the 9-member TPLF Meles politburo, that has instituted and is in charge of an ethnic apartheid system in Ethiopia.
A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow by Prof. Ephraim Isaac and other members of the elders committee regarding the release of Birtukan Mideksa, a {www:political prisoner} and chairperson of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) of Ethiopia.
Sources in Addis Ababa have confirmed to Ethiopian Review that Birtukan’s family have picked up her belongings from Kality prison today. The family is also preparing a welcoming ceremony. A lot of people are seen today going in and out of her family {www:residence} .
