From an Ethiopian Prison: Testimony of Befeqadu Hailu

Global Voices

Journal from an Ethiopian Prison: Testimony of Befeqadu Hailu, Part 1

This testimony was written by blogger and human rights advocate Befeqadu Hailu in late August 2014. A founding member of the Zone9 blogging collectiveand a Global Voices community member, he was arrested and imprisoned on April 25, 2014 along with five fellow members of Zone9 and three journalist colleagues. On July 17, 2014, all nine detainees were charged under the country’s penal code and the Terrorism Proclamation of 2009. Befeqadu mentions in his text the names of several of his fellow detainees including Abel, Mahlet, and Natnael. All are members of the Zone9 collective.

This is the first of two installments of an abridged version of Befeqadu’s testimony. It was translated from Amharic to English by Endalk Chala and edited for clarity and context by Ellery Roberts Biddle. The full, unabridged testimony is available in PDF form here.

“So, what do you think is your crime?”

My interrogator posed this question after forcing me to recount my work as an activist and progressive blogger. Soon after the interrogation, when my captors reunited me with my blogger friends, we realized that we were all asked this same question:

“So what do you think is your crime?”

The question is intriguing. It sheds light on our innocence, on our refusal to acknowledge whatever crimes our captors suspect us of committing. Yes, they probed us severely, but each session ended with same question. The investigation was not meant to prove or disprove our offenses. It was meant simply to make us plead guilty.

After two years of writing and working to engage citizens in political debate, we have been apprehended and investigated. Blame is being laid upon us for committing criminal acts, for supposedly being members and “accepting the missions” of [opposition political parties] Ginbot7/May 15 and OLF. [1]

The next step is “due process” and our prosecution, but I believe there are still questions to be answered. How did we get here? What was our interrogation like? Are we really members of Ginbot7/May15?  If not, why have they arrested us?  Will they release us soon?

No matter what, boundaries exist in this country. People who write about Ethiopia’s political reality will face the threat of incarceration as long as they live here.

We believe that everyone who experiences this reality, dreading the consequences of expressing their views, lives in the outer ring of the prison – the nation itself. That is why we call our blog Zone9. [2]

Zone9 was merely two weeks old when the government made our collective blog inaccessible in Ethiopia in 2012. Despite the blockage, we continued to write, but we knew that the fate of our blocked blogs could be our own. We knew we could end up being arrested.

In the days and weeks leading up to our incarceration in April 2014, government security agents threatened us with imminent arrest, but we were still shaken by what happened to us. The six local members of the blogging collective and our three journalist allies were arrested and detained. With the exception of one of the journalists (Asmamaw Hailegiorgis of Addis Guday newspaper) we were arrested on Friday April 25 at about 11:00 pm and taken from our respective locations. Asmamaw was arrested the next morning. By the time we were seized and taken to the detention center, the search “warrant” that authorized our arrest was well over its time limit, according to Ethiopian law. The unlawful intrusion on our rights began here. Without delay, we became the victims of many violations of Ethiopian law by the authorities.

The idea of setting a foot in the compound of the ill-famed Maekelawi detention center gives a cold shiver to anyone who knows its history. But my sheer optimism and trust that the brutal and inhumane treatment of people was a distant memory saved me from trembling as I was escorted into the compound. The same was true of my friends, I suppose. What is more, we had nothing to be scared of, because we are neither undercover agents nor members of armed forces. We are just writers.

But as soon as I arrived at Maekelawi, detainees informed me that I had been placed in one of the notorious sections of the detention center, known as “Siberia”. In less than a week, I felt like I was living in the middle of an account from the 2013 Human Rights Watch report entitled “They Want a Confession”. [3]

This is the first of two installments of an abridged version of Befeqadu’s testimony. It was translated from Amharic to English by Endalk Chala and edited for clarity and context by Ellery Roberts Biddle. The full, unabridged testimony is available in PDF form here.

ETHIOPIA: A Minor Gets Prison Terms for Alleged Instigation

HRLHA FineHRLHA – URGENT ACTION                              
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) strongly condemns the sentencing of Abde Jemal, a fourteen-year old minor, in adults’ court to four years in prison and $700.00 Birr fine for allegedly inciting people to political violence. According to HRLHA’s correspondents, Abde Jemal was arrested by the security agents while tending his parents’ cattle out in the field. HRLHA has learnt that Abde Jemal was severely beaten up (in other words, physically tortured) following his arrest by members of the security force in order to coerce him into confessing in court to the alleged crime. To begin with, this was allowed to happen despite the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990, to which Ethiopia is a signatory, and which clearly states under Article 37(a) that State Parties shall ensure that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”; and additionally guarantees under article 40, sub-article 2(a) that every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law should … “Not be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt.”
HRLHA has also learnt through its correspondents that Abde Jemal, after being sentenced to four years in jail on the 2nd of September, 2014, in criminal charge file #06055 in the Bilo Nopha District Court, in the western Illu Abbabor Province of the Regional State of Oromia, was soon sent to Bishar, the provincial grand prison in Mettu, where adult offenders of all kinds of common crimes including murder are held. Being born to a poor family, Abde Jemal assumed the responsibilities of supporting his parents and himself at this very young age.
In the first place, it is undoubtedly abnormal and unusual to accuse a child of Abde Jemal’s age for inciting or being part of a POLITICAL violence. What is more, the Ethiopian Criminal Code, Chapter IV, sub-section I, under “Ordinary Measures”, states that, “In all cases where a crime provided by the criminal law or the Law of Petty Offences has been committed by a young person between the ages of nine and fifteen years (Art. 53), the court shall order one of the following measures …”: admitting to a curative institution (Art. 158), supervised education (Art. 159), reprimand; censure (Art. 160), school or home arrest (Art. 161), and other similar and light conditional sanctions and measures that facilitate the reforming, rehabilitation and reintegration of the young offender. The Criminal Code also provides, particularly under sub articles 162 and 168 in the same chapter, that the court shall order the admission of young offenders “… into a special institution for the correction and rehabilitation of the young criminals …” and “When the criminal was sent to a corrective institution, he shall be transferred to a detention institution if his conduct or the danger he constitutes renders such a measure necessary, or when has attained the age of eighteen years and the sentence passed on him is for a term extending beyond his majority.” Besides, the above mentioned UN Convention, under article 40, provides that “States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society”. These all provisions inarguably show that minor offenders of Abde Jemal’s age deserve none of what have been imposed on him, including sending him to adults’ jail such as Bishari.
Also, the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, another international document that Ethiopia has ratified, states that the child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief, and that the child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination. In spite of these all, according to HRLHA’s belief, Minor Abde Jemal has been subjected to all forms of discrimination – racial and political in particular, and was not given any of the protections he is entitled to as a child or a minor.
By allowing such extra-judicial impositions to happen to its own citizen, a minor in this case, the Ethiopian Government is inviting the questioning of the credibility of its own justice system, and its adherence to international documents it has signed and ratified.
Therefore, HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally reverse all that have been imposed on Abde Jemal and other minors like him, if any, in adults’ criminal court, and ensure that the Minor gets fair trial in an appropriate judicial setting, in case he has really committed a crime. We also request that the Ethiopian Government honours all international documents that it has signed and that apply to children’s rights. HRLHA also calls up on regional and international diplomatic, democratic, and human rights agencies to challenge the Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF Government in this regard; and join HRLHA in its demand for a fair treatment for Minor Abde Jemal.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language:
Expressing your concerns over the absence of fair and appropriate delivery of justice, and the political biases impacting on the overall justice system,
Urging the concerned government offices and authorities of Ethiopia to ensure that Minor Abde Jemal would get a fair trial in appropriate court and based on the proper provisions of the criminal code as well as the constitution of the country,
Urging the Ethiopian Government to abide by all international instruments that it has ratified
Requesting diplomatic agencies in Ethiopia that are accredited to your respective countries that they play their parts in putting pressure on the Ethiopian Government so that it treats its citizens equally and fairly, regardless of their racial, religious, and/or political backgrounds.

Ethiopian Editor Convicted for Inciting Public With Articles

By William Davison

An Ethiopian editor is facing as many as 10 years in prison after being convicted of inciting the public against the government through his newspaper articles, his lawyer said.

Temesgen Desalegn, the former editor of Feteh, a defunct weekly newspaper, was convicted yesterday by the Federal High Court on charges that also included defaming the government and distorting public opinion, after a case that lasted about two years, lawyer Ameha Mekonnen said. He will be sentenced on Oct. 27.

“Temesgen becomes the first journalist who’s accused and found guilty only for what he’s written in a newspaper,” Ameha said by phone today from Ethiopia’s capital,Addis Ababa. “The evidence was only his writing, nothing else.”

Communications Minister Redwan Hussien said that the conviction was for articles Temesgen wrote for Feteh about two years ago. The case concerned “incitement and misinforming the public,” he said by phone.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second-biggest jailer of journalists after neighboring Eritrea as of Dec. 2013, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Government officials say journalists are not above the law and aren’t prosecuted because of their profession.

Last week, an Ethiopian court sentenced three magazine-owners in absentia to more than three years imprisonment each on charges of instigating the public to overthrow the government and fomenting ethnic tension. Temesgen was involved with one of their publications, Fact, Ameha said. The trial of six bloggers and three journalists accused of links with outlawed groups resumes tomorrow in Addis Ababa.

Temesgen was prosecuted under Article 257 of the country’s 2004 Criminal Code, Ameha said. The provision relates to the “provocation and preparation” of a range of crimes against the state, according to the law. An Ethiopian court banned Feteh’s distribution in July 2012 after it published front-page stories on the illness of late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and protests by Muslims in Addis Ababa.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa atwdavison3@bloomberg.net

First Case of Ebola In Ethiopia Reported (Hara Ethiopia)

By Hara Ethiopia

Updated

Suspected Ebola Patient dies in Ethiopia capital

TPLF officials should face trial in  ICC says Health Workers and Human Right Activists working in Ethiopia

A patient suspected of contracting Ebola dies in Addis Ababa. His cause of death was said to be allergic drug reaction to his family but insider source said the doctors had been treating him for suspected Ebola case. The safety of the health staff and other patients still unknown.

A disease that medical doctors believe is Ebola appears to be suspected in the Ethiopian capital. One west African origin diplomat has been admitted for flu like symptoms in Saint Yared General Hospital. Three more people have been also admitted to the black lion hospital, with a reported cases of bleeding and fever. Doctors in black lion hospital, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue and afraid of reprisal action from government officials, are saying it is Ebola. The safety of the health staff and other patients still unknown.

Black Lions hospital employees have been instructed not to speak of suspected Ebola cases under threat of imprisonment. One of Hara Ethiopia source in Black Lion Hospital said ”unless the governments take action early and announce to the people for public health prevention, it will not be easy to bring Ebola outbreak under control.”
” It may be spreading very quickly in parts of the city where sanitation is poor ” a doctor said.
There are no reliable estimates so far of severity, mortality and morbidity rates of the disease due to severe restriction of free media in the country and it is difficult to verify it in this most secretive and totalitarian state in the world.

“We are instructed not to report any case of Ebola, cholera, malnutrition and famine without the prior approval of the government officials” a doctor said.
“This Tigray Liberation Front regime officials should face trial in the International criminal court (ICC). They were intentionally suppressed and denied the reports of cholera and malnutrition outbreaks on several occasions in the past and that was lead to excess mortality. Now they are doing the same things regarding to Ebola reports. The United Nation should refers the case to ICC” a human right activist said
‘’Human right groups and United Nation should investigate the matter as soon as possible. The forced sterilization being carried out by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on the Amhara women without their conscious knowledge, and subsequent extinction of 2.5 Million Amhara from the face of earth would support the charge of crimes against humanity’’ another doctor said.
“Tens of thousands of Oromos, Amhara, Anuakes, somalies, Sidamos and Afars were massacred in a day light by this regime. Now they are intentionally suppressed the reports of the deadly Ebola virus as they did during cholera epidemics and famine. All these add to the growing evidence that Tigray Liberation Front regime may well be guilty of crimes against humanity” a human right activist said.

Keseteberhan Admassu (MD), Minister of Health, said that Ebola was not a national security for Ethiopia and banning flights to and from West Africa was unnecessary. Most health experts smash the minister remarks and the government’s passive response for the disease.
The Ethiopian Government has so far refused to confirm the existence of the disease. On several occasions, the Government has denied the existence of Ebola in Ethiopia for fear that acknowledging it will deprive the tourism and the economy and inflame the current public anger.
Recently the Ethiopian Ministry of Health announced the establishment of a new specialized Ebola treatment hospital. But Hara Ethiopia sources reported that the facility hasn’t adequately equipped and set up with Bio safety level 3 and 4 recommendation. Ethiopia’s health care system is among the least developed in Sub-Saharan Africa and is not, at present, able to effectively cope with the Ebola outbreak. A lack of leadership from government to devise and implement emergency public health strategies has contributed to an alarming level of vulnerability to Ebola epidemics.
Ethiopia’s national carrier is a major airline connecting countries across Africa and has on its part been pursuing the usual flights into West Africa. Bole international airport so far haven’t any infrared thermometers or non-contact thermometers to measure body temperature of in-bound and out- bound passengers for possible Ebola symptoms.

Deaths from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including recent fatalities in the United States and Spain, have exceeded 4,000 people according to the latest figures released by the World Health Organization.
Ebola is a rare and deadly disease, which is caused by infection with one of the Ebola viruses. It is spread by direct contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids and may also spread by contact with contaminated objects or infected animals. Experts fear Ebola virus could spread through the air and not just through contact with bodily fluid. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Ebola, and up to 85 per cent of persons, who get the disease, die. Symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain. Skin rash, red eyes, and internal and external bleeding may be seen in some patients.