Take Action! - Blogger Detained for Criticizing State Of Emergency (Ethiopia: UA 255/16)
URGENT ACTION
NOVEMBER 15, 2016
Zone 9 blogger Befeqadu Hailu was arbitrarily arrested and is being detained due to his open criticism of the Ethiopian government during a media interview. He should be immediately and unconditionally released.
Security officers arrested prominent Zone 9 blogger Befeqadu Hailu from his home on 11 November at 6: 30 am local time. The police told Befeqadu Hailu during interrogation that he is being detained for criticizing the state of emergency the Ethiopian Government declared on 9 October during an interview with Voice of America (VOA) Amharic service on 30 October. He is being detained at a Police Station near CMC in Addis Ababa. According to the state of emergency currently in place in Ethiopia, Befeqadu Hailu will not be able to challenge the legality of his detention. His Twitter and Facebook accounts were deactivated after his arrest.
In the past, Befeqadu Hailu and others have suffered torture and other ill treatment while in pre-trial detention at Maekelawi Prison. Amnesty International believes that Befeqadu Hailu is at risk of torture and other ill treatment while in detention.
Amnesty International considers Befeqadu Hailu a prisoner of conscience arrested and detained solely for exercising his freedom of expression. He must be immediately and unconditionally released.
1) TAKE ACTION
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
Calling on the Ethiopian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Befeqadu Hailu;
Calling on them to ensure that pending Befeqadu Hailu’s release, he is not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment;
Urging them to ensure that he is given access to his lawyer.
Here’s why it is so important to report your actions: we record the number of actions taken on each case and use that information in our advocacy. Either email uan@aiusa.org with “UA 255/16” in the subject line or click this link.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
DOWNLOAD the full Urgent Action in PDF or Word format below
Equity statement: Accurate information on African politics and culture is extremely difficult to attain. Western countries routinely delegitimize African professionals and news outlets by sharing biased accounts of issues occurring in African countries to African people. I have done my absolute best to adequately research and interview in order to offer the most accurate account of the political situation in Ethiopia and plight of the Oromo people. If you or a loved one is affected by the current situation in Ethiopia or Oromia, and/or you feel that any information is not accurate, please feel free to comment and discuss below.
Following a year of protests carried out by the Oromo people, the Ethiopian government announced a state of emergency in effect for at least six months. The reason cited as violence and unrest among the country’s largest ethnic group. However, the party conducting the offensive is in question. Members of the Oromo community claim that government forces are using excessive brutality to stamp down revolts following what they claim are violations of human and civil rights as well as unjust seizure of private land.
The Oromo community makes up nearly fourty million people, mainly residing within the borders of Ethiopia. The Horn of Africa, a pastoral hub, is continuously marred by its colonial history; one of the main factors creating ethnic, economic, political, and social instability today. Their colonization and fusion into Ethiopian society disrupted the established and independent, political structure of the Oromos while also placing a massive ethnic group in a subordinate position to two other smaller ethnic groups, the Amhara and Tigray.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Credits: http://bit.ly/2fsrkTw
The current political group in power, The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), is facing scrutiny for its treatment of minority groups. Following the establishment of the 1994 Constitution, after Eretria’s secession and independence, local and international sources began to suspect that the members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), later reorganizing into the EPRDF, manipulated the country’s constitution for its own aims: “The TPLF-dominated EPRDF intentionally included Article 39 [The right to secession] in Ethiopia’s 1994 Constitution so that the Tigray region could loot Ethiopia of its resources, use the Ethiopian military to expand the borders of Tigray, and then secede from Ethiopia”.
Under the false impression that the TPLF/EPRDF are adequately democratic entities, the global community continues to uphold support and offer aid to the government. In the 2015 general elections, the ERPDF won one hundred percent of parliamentary seats. in the previous election the party won 99.6%. Election results like this one reveal that the government is, in all reality, authoritarian, masking their lack of democratic principles with elections as well as the elimination of rivaling civil society groups and independent media. Peaceful, anti-government protests erupted across the Amhara and Oromia regions following the election results. Between November 2015 and August 2016, at least 500 protesters were killed by security forces and thousands detained under terrorism charges.
10,000 people march for Oromo demonstration in Seattle Washington. Credits: https://biturl.io/VRsTq4
Successive government leaders have been cited by Human Rights Watch and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for human rights abuses as well as non-democratic and severe “iron-fistedness” against dissension; such as, “the Charities and Societies Proclamation of 2008. This restricts Ethiopian non-governmental organizations from embarking on any human rights-related work if they receive their funding from foreign source” according to Adeyinka Makinde of Global Research. The EPRDF has the capacity to stamp down any and all forms of dissension due to its “full control of the security apparatus, the military, the police force and the intelligence services, dominated by ethnic Tigrayans”. EPRDF also legitimizes the use of extreme force under its “vaguely drafted counter-terrorism laws”.
Why Now?
The most recent protests and government crackdown have entered international focus with figures such as Olympic silver-medalist Feyisa Lilesa crossing his arms in solidarity with the Oromo people during the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Feyisa Lilesa crosses his arms in solidarity with the Oromo people when finishing 2nd in the 2016 Rio Olympics Marathon Race. Credits: https://flic.kr/p/LgPMgh
The Oromo people endured oppression for the past century; the question remains as to why, finally, the Oromo peoples’ protests have gained traction.
In an interview with Gemechu Mekonnen, an undergraduate student studying at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, an Ethiopian, and an Oromo, he explained that the oppression of the Oromo people reached a tipping point around a year ago when the government planned to enact what is coined “The Master Plan” to seize Oromia land. Farmers around the capital would in turn, lose their source of income with little to no compensation while the government sold their property, arguably for some the most fertile land in Africa, to foreign investors such as China.
Man holds sign in protest of Ethiopian government Master Plan to seize Oromo property. Credits: http://bit.ly/2fqlO5B
The lack of representation, subjugation and oppression of the Oromo group by ethnic groups such as the Ahmara and Tigray resulted in an “unsurprising amount of frustration and resentment”. the Ethiopian government had, “already taken the dignity, voice, and lives of so many, [that] the Oromo people finally said ‘enough is enough’ to the government’s unjust actions”.
Understanding a country’s history and human rights record, while necessary, is not sufficient to comprehend the opinions, needs, and future of an ethnic group. Mekonnen’s insight offers a rare and intimate perspective on the plight of the Oromo people, their tenacity, and their unwavering battle for self-determination: “The ‘why now’ really comes rooted in many different now. Whether it’s the influence of globalization revealing more of the world to Ethiopians [and to] Oromos, the emboldened and educated students and youth [who] question the status quo, or the blatant lack of respect for the land and life of their people, all these [factors] were important in catalyzing the active voices for change that now exist. The more the government tries to arrest journalist, suppress independent media, and kill opposition leaders, the more the people protest”.
The more pressure the international and domestic community puts on the government, the greater the voice the Oromo people have to advocate or their rights domestically and on a global stage. However, signs of progress are small and incremental. On October 2nd 2016, an estimated 678 civilians were killed and countless injured by government forces in what is now infamously known as The Irreecha Massacre. Nearly two million people from across Oromia assembled to celebrate Irreecha, a festival marking the changing of seasons. Irreecha, for many Oromo, is a setting for “resistance and reaffirmation of identity” where attendees sing revolutionary songs and denounce human rights abuses. Following what the attendees considered a politicization of the festival, an individual openly defied the organizers (who were affiliated with the government) and spoke out against the EPRDF. Security forces responded by firing bullets and tear gas on the unarmed participants. Repeatedly hearing news about the tragic loss of life of his people leaves Mekonnen feeling “a sense of hopelessness”. He describes “a recurring feeling dread, not for what could happen to me, but for what is most likely happening to the family I have in Ethiopia”.
The situation in Ethiopia reaches far beyond its borders. The Oromo peoples’ struggle, while inadequately understood by the rest of the world, is catalyzing what will be true, grass-roots changes. There remains much reform that needs to be done regarding Oromo self-determination and within the Ethiopian government itself, but the process has begun. It is important for the international community to recognize the atrocities occurring within Ethiopia as well as stand in solidarity with the Oromo people and the victims of violence and human rights abuses.
Visa for Abusive Ethiopian Official Raises Concerns
(Sydney) – The Ethiopian government has arrested and detained dozens of relatives of Ethiopians who participated in a Melbourne protest in June, 2016, and is still holding many of them four months later, Human Rights Watch said today.
On June 12, members of Australia’s Ethiopian community who are from Somali Regional State protested the visit to Australia of an Ethiopian regional government delegation that included Abdi Mohamoud Omar, known as Abdi Iley, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State. They were also protesting Australia’s support for the Ethiopian government. The Ethiopian delegation did not appear, and after several hours the event was cancelled. The protesters later learned that several dozen of their relatives in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State had been arrested and detained due to their involvement in the Melbourne protest.
“Abdi Mohamoud Omar and his colleagues have added collective punishment to their long list of abuses against the people of Somali Regional State,” said Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Australian government should raise their concerns with their Ethiopian counterparts at the highest levels.”
Relatives of Australia’s Ethiopian community, who protested against the visit of an Ethiopian regional government delegation to Australia, were arrested due to their involvement in the protest.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 members of the Ethiopian Somali community in Australia between July and September 2016.They told Human Rights Watch that at least 32 family members had been arrested in Ethiopia. Some have since been released but most were still in detention, the relatives said. The Ethiopian government should immediately release the relatives of the Melbourne protesters, whose detention amounts to unlawful collective punishment of family members, Human Rights Watch said.
Ethiopian Somali protesters in Melboune expressed particular concern over Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visit. The Liyu police, a paramilitary unit that reports directly to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, has been responsible for numerous serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions and torture. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visa application did not raise any serious concerns. The Australian government should ensure that foreign officials implicated in serious human rights abuses do not receive visas, Human Rights Watch said.
Numerous Ethiopian Somali Australians said that pro-government supporters living in Australia regularly harass community members perceived as government opponents. Several protesters said that these supporters called or personally confronted them in the days following the arrests and pressed them to make a video pledging support for Abdi Mohamoud Omar in order to secure the release of their relatives. At least three members of Australia’s Ethiopian Somali community have done this.
One man described pleas from his family members: “If you do not record something, they will kill us.”
Threatening demands for video apologies have been a regular tactic of the Somali Regional State government, Human Rights Watch said. People from Somali Regional State who live in the United States, Canada, and northern Europe have described similar networks and tactics by pro-government supporters there. These videos are often posted to the state-run broadcaster, ESTV, and to various pro-government websites.
Shukri, a Somali-Ethiopian Australian, who protested against the visit of Ethiopia’s President of the Somali Regional State, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, to Melbourne, Australia, in June 2016. In retaliation, Ethiopian paramilitary police rounded up members of Shukri’s family in Ethiopia.
“I don’t feel safe here,” one Australian said. “I thought I was safe. When I came, [I thought] now I will be in a free country. To be in Australia and be scared all the time, it doesn’t go together.”
One of the recently released detainees told his relative in Australia that security personnel hit him every night. His interrogators told him: “If you want to be released, you have to talk to [your relative] about support[ing] the government. You have to talk to people and then those people will take it to the embassy.” Arbitrary detention is commonplace in Somali Regional State, and detainees describe frequent torture and other ill-treatment in the region’s many detention sites.
Australia has a strong and growing economic relationship with Ethiopia, and Australian companies are exploring opportunities in Ethiopia in mining, energy, and agriculture. In July, an Australia trade delegation from the state of Victoria visited Ethiopia.
Granting a visa to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, who previously visited Australia in 2012, raises concerns about the Australian government’s vetting process of people implicated in serious rights abuses. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is responsible for assessing visa applications and can refuse visas to people suspected of involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Given the significant evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Ethiopian forces in the country in 2007-2008 while Abdi Mohamoud Omar was the Somali Regional State head of security, his visa application should have raised serious questions, Human Rights Watch said. However, Australian government officials told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visa raised no red flags.
In response to a letter from Human Rights Watch, the Australian government wrote that “all non-citizens wishing to enter Australia are assessed against relevant public interest criteria, including foreign policy interest, national security and character requirements in accordance with relevant legislation. This includes foreign officials with potential character concerns or subject to allegations of human rights abuses.”
A Somali-Ethiopian Australian who protested against the visit of Ethiopia’s President of the Somali Regional State, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, to Melbourne, Australia, in June 2016. “My mother, brother, and sister were all arrested back home. It makes me sad. I was driving a taxi, but I cannot work now. I can’t answer the phone. I cannot sleep. All my family. It’s because of me.”
“Ethiopia has severely cracked down down on protests at home, but has gone a cruel step further by trying to silence Ethiopians protesting abroad by punishing their family members,” Horne said. “These relatives are being wrongfully held and should immediately be released.”
For additional information, please see below.
The Melbourne Protest
The generally peaceful protest on June 12 was marred by several scuffles, in which one man was injured, and the filming of protesters by government supporters. Several protesters said that a United States citizen connected to the Ethiopian ruling party, who was traveling with Abdi Mohamoud Omar, threatened protesters, saying “You will see what will happen to your relatives.” Another protester said that pro-government Ethiopian Australians threatened him at the event, saying, “You will see what happens.”
Several witnesses said that Ethiopian government supporters filmed them using smartphones, which would facilitate identifying their relatives in Somali Regional State. Within hours, protesters started receiving calls from family members in Ethiopia saying that relatives – some as old as 85 – had been arrested because of the Melbourne protest.
One protester said he later heard from his family: “When they [Liyu police] arrested my brothers, they told them, ‘Your brother is protesting and that’s why we are arresting you.’”
Another protester said, “Around 8 p.m. I got a phone call from my uncle back home. He said, ‘Two of your uncles were taken by the security and we don’t know where they went. … [I]t’s about you as they said your nephew did this or that to President Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar], that’s why.’ They took them away to jail.”
The 70-year-old mother of a protester was among those arrested. Before taking her to a military camp, the Liyu police asked her: “Are you the mother of [name withheld]? Your son created trouble for the [regional] president.” She was held for almost a month. She told her son that uniformed captors had beaten her in custody.
Ethiopian government delegation, led by Abdi Mohamoud Omar (center), meets with Australian government officials in Canberra, June 2016
Some other relatives of protesters, particularly the sick and the elderly, have also been released, but on the condition that their Australian relatives make a video apologizing to Abdi Mohamoud Omar for their “anti-government” behavior. Other relatives arrested following the protest remain in detention in various locations in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State.
Conflict, Abuses in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State
Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State, consisting largely of ethnic Somalis, has been the site of a low-level insurgency by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) for more than 15 years. The ethnic Somali armed movement, largely supported by members of the Ogaden clan, has sought greater political autonomy for the region. Following the insurgent group’s April 2007 attack on an oil installation in Obole, which resulted in the deaths of 70 civilians and the capture of several Chinese oil workers, the Ethiopian government carried out a major counterinsurgency campaign incurring serious human rights abuses.
In 2008, Human Rights Watch found that security forces were involved in extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and forced displacement of civilians. Human Rights Watch believes the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the insurgent group both committed war crimes between mid-2007 and early 2008, and that the military could be responsible for crimes against humanity. Abdi Mohamoud Omar was the head of security of Somali Regional State during this period.
Since 2008, the paramilitary Liyu police, who report directly to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, have frequently been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and violence against civilians accused of supporting or being sympathetic to the ONLF, including in 2012 when the Liyu police summarily executed 10 civilans. Abdi Mohamoud Omar has been the president of Somali Regional State since 2010. Since 2008, a number of victims of government abuses have told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar was present during interrogations, ordering – and in some cases directly involved in – their torture and that he was present during executions of civilians.
One man detained in 2006 in a military camp told Human Rights Watch in July 2016:
When Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] got frustrated that they [soldiers] did not do what he wanted then he did it himself. He would tell them to hit harder or take matters into his own hands. Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] would say “You must confess.”
I was tortured. … We were handcuffed with our arms over our legs, with the legs pulled up. They would put a rod under our legs and hang us up so our head falls back and we hang upside down. I would be hung upside down for periods of 15 minutes and they would hit my buttocks and feet. It was very painful. They would keep us like this for 15 or 20 minutes.
Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] was present for some of these interrogations when we were hanging upside down. The stick was like a rubber hose with an iron bar inside. Once, Abdi Iley[Abdi Mohamoud Omar] thought the officer was not hitting hard enough [so] he took an iron bar himself.
A number of people have also alleged that Abdi Mohamoud Omar threatened them on social media. Limitations on access to Ethiopia in general, and Somali Regional State specifically, have not made it possible to corroborate these claims.
The Ethiopian government has never meaningfully investigated abuses by the military or Liyu police in the Somali region. International human rights groups are not permitted access to to the area.
The government has used various tactics to silence the diaspora. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous examples in which family members of Ethiopians who have been vocal abroad were targeted for arrest or harassment. They have also been targeted for surveillance using European-made malware. Diaspora-based websites are often blocked inside Ethiopia, and the government regularly jams diaspora television and radio stations.
Zone 9 blogger Befeqadu Hailu was arbitrarily arrested and is being detained due to his open criticism of the Ethiopian government during a media interview. He should be immediately and unconditionally released.
