BRUSSELS (Ethiomedia) – Ana Gomes, member of the European Parliament, on Wednesday made an impassioned plea to South African President Jacob Zuma for the release of Ethiopia’s most prominent jailed opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa.
The Honorable Ana Gomes, who was chief of a 160-strong EU election monitoring delegation to the stolen 2005 elections in Ethiopia, made the plea during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, according to an EU press release on September 29, 2010.
In Jail since December 2008, the 37-year-old Birtukan was sentenced to life in prison by the Meles Zenawi regime. Amnesty International considers the former judge a prisoner of conscience.
“Ana Gomes asked President Zuma and South Africa to show solidarity towards Ms. Mideksa, who the people of Ethiopia consider the ‘Ethiopian Nelson Mandela’. The Portuguese Socialist MEP evoked Nelson Mandela and his inspiring fight for freedom, stating that “he is not just a hero of South Africans, he is a hero for Mankind”, and recalled how world solidarity was important to return Nelson Mandela to freedom. ‘Will South Africa now show solidarity to get the release of this brave, young African woman imprisoned for life in Ethiopia, the country that hosts the headquarters of the African Union?’, directed Ana Gomes to President Zuma,” according to an EU news release.
President Zuma said he had no detailed information about the case but assured MEP Gomes that South Africa would be willing to “use its influence” and press for Birtukan’s release if jaied unfairly.
“Together with MEP Marita ULVSKOG (S&D, SE), Ana Gomes proposed Birtukan Mideksa for the Sakharov Prize 2010. During the last plenary session in Strasbourg , the nomination of the Ethiopian political prisoner won the endorsement of the Socialists & Democrats Group for the European Parliament’s prestigious Human Rights annual award,” the press release said.
Birtukan Mideksa is a young Ethiopian woman judge and leader of a political party, who is in prison, serving a life sentence, since December 2008.
She has, thus, been prevented from running for the May 2010 general elections, despite being the leader of the main opposition Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ). Her ‘crime’ was to speak, in Sweden, about the pardon that she was forced to sign to be released from detention in 2007, together with other 37 key elected opposition politicians who were imprisoned in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. Amnesty International considers her a prisoner of conscience, at risk of torture, arrested solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association.
Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation in Africa (80 million citizens), hosts the headquarters of the African Union and is often presented as a crucial actor in the stability of the Horn of Africa, despite refusing to accept the international arbitration on its border dispute with Eritrea and the reinforcement of the extremists in Somalia which resulted from its invasion of that neighbouring country in 2006.
Ethiopia is one of the largest beneficiaries of EC support (644 M € in development cooperation programmes foreseen for 2008-13), despite the systematic silencing of opposition voices by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in violation of human rights and democratic principles to which Ethiopia is bound via the Cotonou Agreement: in the aftermath of the 2005 elections, key elected opposition leaders were imprisoned and demonstrators were massacred (200 persons killed in Addis Ababa on 8 June 2005). The 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation criminalises human rights work, led to the closure of NGOs. And there is no media freedom, the Prime Minister recently having publicly vowed to jam foreign sources of information, such as radios Voice of America and Deutsche Welle.
The EU High Representative Ashton stated, in a letter of 22 July, that Birtukan’s “case continues to deserve our special attention”. However, the EU has not used its clout to pressure the Ethiopian government to release Ms. Mideksa and other political prisoners. The European Parliament called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of Birtukan Mideksa in a resolution approved shortly after her re-arrest, in January 2009. Development Commissioner Piebalgs admitted, in March 2010, at the Joint Parliamentary Assembly ACP-EU, that the imprisonment of “popular” Ms. Mideksa “can undermine the credibility of the May 2010 elections”, in which EPRDF, the ruling party, and its allies won more than 99% of the vote – a result that speaks for itself…
The Sakharov prize should be given to those who need international visibility and protection. Birtukan Mideksa needs both.
By awarding the Sakharov Prize to Birtukan, the EP would bring hope and world attention to this young mother and one of the few female party leaders in Africa, whose health condition in detention has been deteriorating. It would also guarantee visibility to the struggle of thousands of forgotten political prisoners who fight for justice, the rule of law and democracy in Ethiopia.
