Amnesty Int’l warns over fate of several thousand detainees in Oromia region

EthioMedia

January 31, 2006

ADDIS ABABA – Amnesty International expressed its serious concern on Monday about the conditions of 11 university students from Oromia region who were being held incommunicado, the detention without trial of several thousand people from Oromia region, and ‘several killings’ in Ambo prisons.

In a press release dated January 30, 2006, Amnesty feared those being held incommunicado were at the risk of facing torture or ill-treatment, and called for investigations into ‘several killings’ at Ambo Palace prison and Senkele police training centre near Ambo. The human rights watchdog also demanded an independent inquiry into the reported killing in Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa on 9 December of Addis Ababa University students Alemayehu Garba and Morkota Edosa, who had been detained since April 2004.

Those being held incommunicado are:

1. Shumi Dandana (m)
2. Dawit Urga (m)
3. Ahmed Musa (m)
4. Adam Uma (m)
5. Sada Ibrahim (f)
6. Ulufa Bilo (m)
7. Adem Jildo (m)
8. Gemechu Bona (m)
9. Musa Buta (m)
10. Berhanu Gemechu (m)
11. Matewos Teferra (m)

The first nine are from colleges in Oromia region while the last two are from Addis Ababa University. Following is the text released by Amnesty International on January 30, 2006.

“The 11 students named above are among several thousand school and college students from the Oromo ethnic group who have been detained in a series of anti-government demonstrations in different parts of the Oromia Region, in the capital, Addis Ababa, and in other towns. All those named above are detained incommunicado at a number of different locations, and are at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

The arrests have taken place during a wave of student demonstrations which began on 9 November 2005. The demonstrations are still taking place in some areas. Most of those taking part were secondary school students, some of them children under 18 years old, but teachers, farmers, businesspeople and others have also been detained in connection with the demonstrations. Most demonstrations reportedly began peacefully but some police and demonstrators were injured, property was damaged and explosions were reported in some places.

The demonstrations are said to have taken place after a call by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an armed opposition group, for demonstrations against the government. Demonstrators called, among other political demands, for the release of Oromo political prisoners, including officials of the Mecha Tulema Association, a long-established Oromo welfare association (see UA 180/04, AFR 25/006/2004, 21 May 2004, and follow-ups). Several demonstrators were reportedly shot dead and others wounded by the security forces. Many protesters were beaten by police.

Those detained have reportedly been accused of links with the OLF, although none of them has yet been charged. Some detainees have been released, but others are being held in locations where torture has frequently been reported, such as Ambo Palace prison and Senkele police training centre, near the town of Ambo. The whereabouts of many of the detainees, some taken to remote rural prisons, are not known.

In an incident which may have been related to the demonstrations, two Oromo detainees arrested in 2004, Alemayehu Garba (an Addis Ababa University student who is disabled and one of the subjects of UA 180/04) and Morkota Edosa, were reportedly shot dead by police or prison officers in Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa on 9 December.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

• expressing concern at the detention of the 11 students named above, along with thousands of other members of the Oromo ethnic group, following demonstrations in the Oromia region and other areas;
• calling for them to be brought to court, charged and given prompt and fair trials in accordance with recognized international standards, or otherwise released;
• calling for an urgent independent investigation into reports of killings of several demonstrators, and torture or ill-treatment of detainees, particularly in Ambo Palace prison and Senkele police training centre near Ambo;
• calling also for an independent inquiry into the reported killing in Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa on 9 December of Addis Ababa University students Alemayehu Garba and Morkota Edosa, who had been detained since April 2004.

APPEALS TO:
Prime Minister
His Excellency Meles Zenawi, Office of the Prime Minister, PO Box 1031, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: + 251 11 552020
+ 251 11 552030
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Justice
Mr Assefa Kesito, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: + 251 11 517775
+ 251 11 520874
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Minister

To access the original document of Amnesty International in PDF, click here.