Ethiopia: The FDRE Government Must Stop Curtailing Citizens’ Rights under the Draconian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009 (ATP), The HRLHA Press Release

November 25, 2019

It is a public knowledge that TPLF-led Government of Ethiopia had been using the ATP to repress the citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms for the past decades. It has been condemned by local, regional and international human rights agencies for serving as a weapon to silence political oppositions and voices critical of government policy and practice.

The incumbent reformist government, soon it assumed power in 2018, has also publicly confessed that the government itself has been terrorizing citizens using the ATP law. Consequently, a process towards amendment of the proclamation has already been commenced and the final draft amendment was recently referred to the Justice and Legal Affairs Standing Committee of the Parliament.

However, in contrary to positive initiatives taken so far to amend the ATP, the government kept on implementing the same. Subsequently, dozens are incarcerated in different federal prisons and suffering from a prolonged investigation and prosecution under the ATP. Sadly enough, some of the victims are former political prisoners who spent golden part of their life in prison. Others are officials and senior members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC).

It is encouraging that majority of the suspects of the recently attempted coup d’état in Amhara Regional State were almost released on bail. Yet, many are still left behind the bar. The HRLHA is gravely concerned about the human rights situation of prisoners suffering from delay of justice and prolonged detention in different prison cells found in the capital Addis Ababa/Finfine and in different police stations in Oromia Regional State. Denial of the Bail right of the suspects is a clear violation of, among others, Article 19(6) of the FDRE Constitution and Article 9(3)[1] of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[2] to which Ethiopia is a State Party. This is because; majority of the suspects do have an established life, family and permanent income which would guarantee their appearance before an investigating police officer or the court.

Therefore, the HRLHA calls upon the Government of Ethiopia to stop repressing the human rights of the suspects under the ATP, and as soon as possible release the suspects unconditionally. 

The following chart is a Partial List of Suspects arrested from different places of Oromia and currently detained at different federal prisons.

Suspects currently detained at Addis Ababa Police Commission Criminal Investigation Division literally in Ahmaric called “Sostegna”, and currently being called as “Neo-Ma’ikelawi” (Since June 2019)  

II. Some of Accused

1. Some of Accused Persons currently detained at Kilinto Federal Prison and charged under the ATP:

[1] Proclamation No. 1/1995 Proclamation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia https://ethiopianembassy.be/wp-content/uploads/Constitution-of-the-FDRE.pdf

[2] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20999/volume-999-i-14668-english.pdf

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