Ethiopia: Voice of the Voiceless from Oromia/Ethiopia’s Jail Burayu HRLHA’s Dispatch

Sep 17, 2020

Oromo Political Prisoners: Their Plight and Appeal

This document was compiled and sent out at the time when the Ethiopian reform period was expected to end after two years of its mandated activities. Instead of having a serious dialog with stakeholders to discuss stabilizing the political tensions in the country and finding concrete solutions, and facilitating the coming general election, the reformist government preferred political crackdowns against the opposition political organizations by incarcerating the members, supporters- including their higher officials. Among the political organizations, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) and Balderas were the most victimized.

From the Oromo political prisoners who are currently suffering in prison, the HRLHA recently received a document titled “ “Humiliation: Human and Citizen rights violation Committed by Oromia Police Commission” which twenty- five Oromo inmates signed; in it they speak of the atrocities they are facing in an underground prison in Oromia regional state of Burayu town police station. In the document received by HRLHA, the inm

atrocities they are facing in an underground prison in Oromia regional state of Burayu town police station. In the document received by HRLHA, the inmates spoke about not only the political and legal system, but also the prison conditions- which are very harsh.

The document was addressed primarily to the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). These Oromo nationals, picked and brought from all over Oromia, have been accused of being either members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and  subjected to brutal torture, ill treatments and very harsh prison conditions  in an underground prison in Burayu for over five months without  any charges. They asserted that they had been arrested on groundless allegations and falsely accused of murder and facilitating the killings in Oromia Regional state. However, the police were unable to justify to the court the phony allegations.  The inmates appealed that their case has been totally ignored while they are still languishing in prison. They hope to get the attention of   PM Abiy Ahmed.

(Please find the whole appeal document from annexation below)

Background;

The majority of Ethiopians have lived in fear under a very harsh suppression for the past twenty- seven years (1991-2018) with little hope of freedom and stable life in the near future. In those twenty- seven years under the EPRDF government, the country has literally been turned into an unofficial and open prison. Ethiopians who didn’t support the EPRDF government, who were from all walks of life, age groups and genders, have been victimized.  Although the victims have been multiple and various, the pretext in all cases has been one and the same –  suspected of being either a member or a supporter of opposition political organizations- despite the “democratic political system” which the ruling party claims to have been following. Other victims include journalists and human rights activists who were critics of the government’s heinous treatment against its citizens.

The atrocities committed by the EPRDF government over these years reached its rampant stage and the people of Ethiopia, mostly Oromos staged protests for four continuous years (2014-2018) lost thousands lives; these protests forced the EPRDF government to withdraw from its repressive policy and bring a change within its party under the name of reform.

Under its reform agenda, the EPRDF government chose a new cabinet in April 2018  and  Dr. Abiy Amed became the new prime minister  to lead the reform; the new leader promised to improve the past repressive system and bring change to the country. During the first three months in office, Dr. Abiy’s government showed remarkable progress by releasing thousands of political prisoners and allowed political parties to operate freely including those operating inside and outside of   the country.

However, as has been said “History repeats itself”, and the reformist government began to peruse the same path as before and sent thousands of Ethiopians, especially Oromo nationals, to prison and concentration camps under the pretext of training them for the new reform  system.  In the concentration camps of Tolay and Senkele (near Ambo town), several family members, pregnant women and young children have been kept for months under harsh conditions.

Currently tens of thousands Oromos are languishing in different concentration camps simply because they are members or supporters of opposition political organizations. The federal military force and Oromia special forces deployed in every corner of Oromia are killing the youth, women and children, raping Oromo women and confiscating their belongings.

List of Oromo Political Prisoners (OPP) who have presented their appeals to PM Abiy Ahmed and those concerned with humanity, justice, equality, freedom and democracy:

Recommendations

• Please call or write a letter  urging the Prime minister Of Ethiopia, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, to release all political prisoners in the country  without any preconditions

• The Ethiopian government must respect the rights of the citizens that are enshrined in Ethiopian constitution and Regional and International human rights standards that Ethiopia signed and ratified.
• The Ethiopian government must return its military- deployed in Oromia-  to camps and hold accountable those who committed killings, and rape

Note:

Please, use the following address to express your concerns:

H.E. Abiy Ahmed Ali (PhD)

Prime Minister, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Tel.: +251 111 226 767

Fax: +251 111 226 292

P.O.Box: 1031 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Email: info@pmo.gov.et

Lorenzo Te’azaz Road

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Annexation

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