#HRDay2013: Ethiopian government must reveal who, why, where and how citizens in jail are imprisoned

I always come across through Siye's statement in that he mentioned ‘the prison [in Ethiopia] speaks Oromiffa' - to mean most of the prisoners are Oromos. When my friends and I visited journalist Wubshet Taye before he was moved to Zeway, he told us the same thing. Many Oromos are imprisoned. That's not the question! The question is why are they imprisoned?

Is it because they committed crimes? Is it because they believed Oromia should secede? If so, it's their constitutional right. Is it because they were working with OLF? In fact, had people were allowed to work legally against a system that they don't legitimize then they wouldn't have any reason to do it underground with an ‘illegal group'. And we the people, at least, deserve to know the detail.

Ethiopia has signed the African charter for human and people's rights. The concept of ‘people's rights' is unique to Africa and concerns about the rights of groups including ethnics. It's, therefore, the duty of the government to unconditionally respect these rights and our right to know if they are protected or not.

This is not the only problem. In the last September, on the public demonstration called by UDJ party, a girl appeared with a slogan that reads ‘My father is not a terrorist'. We talked to the girl and no one knows her father and even the case he was jailed. Given the history of government's brutality on its critiques, we can't help analyzing this “terrorist" as one victim of the conspiracies made against innocents.

Ethiopian prisons are like ‘bermuda'. There is no independent institution that knows what's going on in there. It is the government itself that's capable of doing this.

I know this sounds ridiculous to most of you but as people who believe in peaceful struggle, we don't have an option other than trying hard to push the government reveal the prison information. In the end, I hope we will have a little picture of what is happening in Ethiopian prisons.

Therefore, this is my call for Ethiopian social media activists to hold this question up through the months between the past and the coming international human rights days.

Ethiopian prisons must release periodic reports to the public on who (specially groups the prisoners are from), why they are jailed, where and how they are held.

We have the right to know if our prisons are places where citizens are corrected for the mistakes they have made in life; not a place where citizens have to pay for standing differed with ruling party.

A New Journalists Association is Under-formation in Ethiopia

There are about eight journalists and media related associations in Ethiopia. None of them, however, have been heard speaking out for either jailed or exiled journalists. Ethiopia is one of the highest jailor of journalists (CPJ, names it 2^nd where as Addis Standard, a local media, named it 3^rd in its December issue). According to Article 19, twelve Ethiopian journalists are prosecuted in “relation to terrorism”. On the other hand, one of the famous “journalists association” – Ethiopian National Journalists Union (ENJU – IFJ member) president, Anteneh Abrham told Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency that he feels proud that Ethiopia hasn’t jailed any journalist for what s/he has written.

The Press Release (Amharic)

It is in this time of despair a committee of eight independent journalists initiated a formation of a new “Ethiopian Journalists Forum (EJF)”. The committee called for ‘founding meeting’ today, Dec 12/2013 at Ethiopian Hotel where more than 20 journalists attended. 

The committee, in its presser, mentioned that ‘the Forum under-formation will independently work to support and upgrade the professionalism of journalists in particular and the media in general’.  It also added that its goals include working:

#HRDay2013፤ ከሰው በታች የሆኑ ሰዎች አሉ ብለው የሚያምኑ ኢትዮጵያውያን አሁንም አሉ

ከጥቂት ሳምንታት በፊት ነው፤ አምስት ኢትዮጵያውያን ሰብሰብ ብለን እራት እየበላን ነበር፡፡ አንደኛው በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ካሉት ‹‹ነጻ›› የጋዜጠኞች ማኅበራት የአንዱ ፕሬዚደንት ነው፡፡ በጨዋታችን መሐል የተናገረው ነገር ሁላችንንም አስደነገጠን፡፡ በዚህ ዘመን እንዲህ የሚያምን “ዘመነኛ” ሰው አለ እንዴ!?

ሰውዬው ያወራልን ሌሊት ወደጅብነት ስለሚለወጡ ሰዎች ነው፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ሁላችንም አፍረን ስናፈገፍግ ከመሐላችን አንዱ “እንዲህ ዓይነት ነገር እውነት ነው ብለህ ታምናለህ?” ብሎ ጠየቀው፡፡ እሱ ሆዬ በሙሉ መተማመን እኛን እንዳላዋቂ በመቁጠር ሌሊት ወደጅብነት የሚለወጡ ሰዎች እንዳሉ ያስረዳን ጀመር፡፡

ይህንን ትዝታዬን የቀሰቀሰው ትላንት ጋዜጠኛ Masresha Mammo የጻፈው ማስታወሻ ነው፡፡ ርዕሰ ጉዳዩ የተለየ ስለነበር እኔ ግን ለዚህች ጽሑፌ የሚጠቅመኝን ገንጥዬ አጣቅሳለሁ፡፡ ማስረሻ እንዲህ ይላል፤

‹‹…ተወልጄ ያደግኹት ከእንጦጦ ተራራ ስር ቀጨኔ በምትባል ሰፈር ውስጥ ነው፡፡ […] ቀጨኔ ላይ ያለው ማኅበረሰብ ወደአዲስ አበባ የተሰደደው የተሻለ ኑሮ ፍለጋ ሲል አልነበረም፡፡ ቡዳ ነው የሚል ስም ስለተለጠፈበት ‹ልጆቻችንን በልተው ጨረሷቸው› በሚል ግድያው ስለበዛበት ነበር፡፡ አንድ ቀጥቃጭ አባቱ፣ ወይም ሸማኔ ወንድሙ፣ አሊያም ሸክለኛ እናቱ በዚሁ ሰበብ ሲገደሉበት፤ በምላሹ እሱም ደሙን ተወጥቶ ይሸሻል፡፡ ይሰደዳል፡፡...

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በፌስቡክና ትዊተር ላይ የታየው ፎቶ ላይ ቴዲ አፍሮ ‹‹ምኒልክ ኢትዮጵያን አንድ ለማድረግ ያደረጉት ጦርነት ለእኔ ቅዱስ ጦርነት ነው›› ብሎ እንደተናገረ ተደርጎ ቀርቧል፡፡ እውነተኛው ላይ ደግሞ ‹‹አመጣጡን ያየ አካሔዱን ያውቃል›› ይላል፡፡ ገርሞኝ የውስጠኛውን ቃለምልልሱን አገላበጥኩ፡፡ ከውስጥ ያለው ስለጦርነቱ የቀረበለት ጥያቄ ላይም ‹‹ቅዱስ ጦርነት›› የሚል ፈልጌ አጣሁ፡፡

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