October 23, 2014
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly pleased with the news that Minor Abde Jemal has been release from the Bishari Jail in Mettu, Iluu Abbabor Province; and has re-united with his parents in Bilo Nopha. According to information obtained by HRLHA through its correspondents, Minor Abde Jemal was released from prison after being taken to a court in Mettu, and his prison term was reduced from four years down to three months.
HRLHA believes that this is an outcome of the efforts of local, regional, and international human rights agencies, including HRLHA (https://www.humanrightsleague.org/?p=14955), who condemned the imposition of such a tough sanction against Minor Abde Jemal and demanded its reversal as well as different media organizations who echoed those outcries by the various human rights groups. However, HRLHA would like to express its appreciation to the Ethiopian Government, at both federal and regional levels, for the immediate and positive response to the strong reactions from the various groups of human rights advocacy and the media. HRLHA also calls up on the Ethiopian Government to adapt to such cultures of respecting and protecting fundamental rights of its citizens, regardless of their ages, gender, religious, and/or ethnic backgrounds, through abiding by the provisions of both constitutional and legal documents of the Country as well as the international human rights standards that it has ratified.
HRLHA would also like to take this opportunity to encourage fellow human rights agencies, advocacy groups, and media organizations so that they keep up with their efforts of fighting on behalf of those who were systematically made defenseless and speaking for those who were made voiceless.
Minor Abde Jemal was originally sentenced to four years in jail, along with nine other youth (whose prison terms, too, have been reduced to three months, but not released yet) on the 2nd of September, 2014 in a local adult court of Bilo Nopha District.
