ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The 46 detainees who are currently on trial after being accused by the tribal junta in Ethiopia of trying to overthrow the regime have told the court on Friday that they are being savagely beaten up by security personnel.
One of the accused, Ato Asaminew Tsige, told the court that he has lost sight in one eye from the beatings.
Upon hearing Ato Asaminew’s claim, family members started to cry loudly, prompting the judges to remove every one from the court room except the accused, the prosecutors, the defense lawyers, the police, and some journalists.
Ato Asaminew asked the court to appoint an independent physician to give the detainees medical treatment and investigate the tortures.
An official representing the prison denied the torture charge. The judges hearing the case told the detainees to file their complaints in writing.
More by Tamiru Tsige, a correspondent for The Reporter:
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Some of the 46 detainees who are currently on trial after being accused by the tribal junta in Ethiopia of trying to overthrow the regime have told the court on Friday that they are being savagely tortured by security personnel.
One of the accused, Ato Asaminew Tsige, told the court that he has lost sight in one eye from the beatings.
Upon hearing Ato Asaminew’s claim, family members started to cry loudly, prompting the judges to remove every one from the court room except the accused, the prosecutors, the defense lawyers, the police, and some journalists.
Ato Asaminew asked the court to appoint an independent physician to give the detainees medical treatment and investigate the tortures.
An official representing the prison denied the torture charge. The judges hearing the case told the detainees to file their complaints in writing.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Unknown individuals have reportedly robbed the Addis Ababa Police Headquarters late last month taking with them over 20 AK-47 automatic rifles, several hand grenades, and ammunition, according to Ginbot 7 Radio.
Such a brazen attack on a police headquarters in Addis Ababa, which is watched by several layers of security agencies — the Federal Police, kebele police, the military, Ministry of Internal Security, and the Addis Ababa police itself — has caused a speculation that the robbery might be an inside job.
Article 2 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that: “Each State party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.”
Common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 prohibits torture during internal armed conflict. States are also required to bring those responsible for torture to justice and to give redress and compensation to those who have been tortured.
Article 18(1) of the Ethiopian Constitution states that: “No person shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
However, in the Ogaden, there is neither arrest nor interrogation without torture. Usually, Ethiopian armed and security forces systematically torture detainees to extract confessions or information under duress. A number of people were tortured to death. The OHRC has examined a large number of torture survivors; some of them were disabled, while others bore scars of torture on their bodies.
The latest victim of Ethiopian government’s institutionalized torture was Hassan Ahmed Makhtal who died from wounds sustained during his detention.
On May 17th 2007, in Jigjiga, Ethiopian security forces and the local police arrested Hassan Ahmed Makhtal and a number of his relatives from their residences in the dead of night. And then they were transferred to Garabcase military barracks and Jigjiga Police Centre. According to ex-jail mates and relatives’ accounts they have undergone severe physical and psychological torture. Hassan, who was in a poor state of health, was denied adequate medical treatment while he was in detention. (See Ogaden: Ethiopian Government Forces: Massacre, displace and starve out the civilian population with impunity ref: OHRC/AR/07).
Recently, after 22 months of detention without official charges or trial he was released on bail, and was not allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Hassan’s younger brother Bashir Ahmed Makhtal who is a prominent Canadian businessman, and originates from the Ogaden region, is now serving a life sentence in an Ethiopian jail. He was accused of being a member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front. (Bashir Ahmed Makhtal: Addis Ababa Court’s Sentence: A Miscarriage of Justice ref: OHRC /PRAU/1209).
Since the arrest of his Canadian brother, the Ethiopian government has hunted down all members of his extended family without an apparent reason.
The Ogaden Human Rights Committee is concerned about the safety and well-being of the remaining members of Hassan Ahmed Makhtal’s extended family, who are in detention and asks for their unconditional and immediate release.
The Ogaden Human Rights Committee condemns Ethiopian government’s policy of subjecting detainees to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
A senior leader of the All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP), Major Argaw Kabtamu, has resigned from the party after protesting the party chairman Hailu Shawel’s agreement with head of the Woyanne regime, Meles Zenawi, on the upcoming general elections.
Major (Shaleqa) Argaw spent 2 years in jail, and was released on August 18, 2007, along with 30 other political prisoners. He is a highly respected leader of AEUP who is known for his principled stand.
In a related story, some leaders and members of the AEUP are circulating a petition within the party hierarchy in order to force Hailu Shawel to back out of the the traitorous agreement he signed with Meles Zenawi, a blood thirsty dictator who unleashed his death squads on Shibre Desalegn and thousands of other peaceful pro-democracy protesters following the May 2005 elections. During the same period, over 40,000 young Ethiopians were rounded up from Addis Ababa and other cities and were sent to malaria-infested concentration camps in remote parts of Ethiopia.
Younger AEUP activists are also currently working to force the resignation of Hailu Shawel for committing one of the worst betrayals of the people in Ethiopian history.
An Ethiopian human rights activist who was jailed for 2 1/2 years said Friday that his country is less free today than it was during its disputed 2005 election.
Daniel Bekele, 42, is crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada on a speaking tour after being honored for his human rights work by New York-based Human Rights Watch.
The soft-spoken lawyer — who won a court order that allowed him serve as an election monitor in Ethiopia in 2005, only to be arrested and charged with treason and attempted genocide later — says a bevy of new, restrictive legislation bodes poorly for a free vote in 2010.
“What is very interesting to note in Ethiopia is sort of the opening of democratic space until 2005, and how that … has constantly been shrinking, if not closing down since then,” Daniel said in a telephone interview from Toronto. In keeping with Ethiopian custom, he uses his first name on second reference.
Those laws, he said, include legislation implemented last year that essentially forbids cash-strapped Ethiopian organizations from doing human rights work, if more than 10 percent of their budget comes from foreign donors, and a strict new anti-terrorism law that could be used to prosecute journalists for what they publish.
The opposition won an unprecedented number of parliamentary seats in the 2005 vote, but not enough to topple Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The opposition claimed the voting was rigged, and European Union observers said it was marred by irregularities.
The election was followed by violent protests. Ethiopia acknowledged that its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting alleged election fraud.
Leslie Lefkow, a Human Rights Watch researcher who is accompanying Daniel on his speaking tour, said rights workers in Ethiopia face increasing harassment, arrest and danger.
“The situation for human rights defenders is not only tight, it’s dangerous,” she said Friday. “There are certainly human rights defenders who are being threatened and being forced to flee the country.”
Opposition politicians have for months been pointing to signs of increased oppression in Ethiopia, notably the harassment and arrest of thousands of their candidates in 2008’s local elections that they believe allowed the ruling party to sweep the elections.
Prime Minister Meles said in September that he will run in May’s presidential election, reversing repeated avowals that he would retire. Meles has held power since he and his Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front led a 1991 coup to depose Mengistu Haile Mariam.
On Friday, more than 40 suspects arrested in April and charged with trying to plot a violent coup were scheduled to appear in an Addis Ababa court. The hearing was postponed.
“Some of the defendants made allegations that they were tortured and mistreated in earlier days,” Lefkow said. “To my knowledge, they still have not been given access to an independent medical assessment of that. In these various trials, including in Daniel’s own trial a few years ago, there’s a lot of rhetoric about the Ethiopian judicial system adhering to the rule of law, but little evidence.”
Daniel said he hopes to return to Ethiopia and resume his work after finishing his studies at Oxford University. For his own safety, he did not provide details about his time in prison with fellow activist Netsanet Demissie.
Both were initially charged with treason and attempted genocide along with 100 opposition leaders and journalists, then convicted of inciting violence and imprisoned for 2.5 years.
The main group of 38 politicians and journalists wrote a formal apology to the government and were convicted and pardoned in 2007, to great jubilation in the Ethiopian capital.
Daniel and Netsanet refused to sign the pardon deal and continued to fight their case as public attention for their situation waned. Daniel appeared undeterred by the sudden drop in attendance at the trial, appearing before the three-judge tribunal, his hands clasped, head high, speaking calmly and referring to thick law books.
“He is an incredibly courageous and committed person,” Lefkow said. “He desperately wants to help build up Ethiopia into a democratic society.”
(By Anita Powell, AP writer, Ethiopia correspondent from 2007 to 2009.)
Article 2 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that: “Each State party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.”