Amnesty International said in its 2007 report some CUD members told a court that they were tortured to make ‘forced confessions’ so as the security forces would arrest more opposition party members.

“Torture was reported by methods including electric shocks and beatings on the feet while tied upside down. Alemayehu Fantu, an engineer and supermarket owner in Addis Ababa, was reportedly tortured in October to make him admit to publishing or distributing the CUD calendar, and to name others. He was taken to court with visible injuries, which the judges did not investigate, but released on bail on November,” Amnesty said.

In the trial of Kifle Tigeneh, an elected member of parliament, and 32 other people, some defendants complained in court that they had been tortured to make false confessions. Berhane Mogese, a lawyer, was on trial with 22 others.

The 76 defendants included Hailu Shawel, the CUD president, Berhanu Negga, an economics professor, and Mesfin Woldemariam, a retired geography professor. A separate trial of Mesfin Woldemariam and Berhanu Negga continued. They were accused of instigating violence during demonstrations at Addis Ababa University in 2000.

All but three defendants refused to defend themselves on the ground that they did not expect a fair trial. The trial had not concluded by the end of 2006. AI considered they were prisoners of conscience and sent a trial observer in October.

A new Press Law, proposed by the government in 2003 to replace the 1992 Press Law, was still under debate. Combined with provisions in the new Criminal Code of May 2005, it could lead to further legal restrictions on the freedom of the media and imprisonment of journalists.

Among defendants in the CUD trial were four human rights defenders: Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, former president of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council; Daniel Bekelle, a lawyer and staff member of ActionAid; Netsanet Demissie, chair of the Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia; and Kassahun Kebede, an Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) official.

The ETA, Ethiopia’s longest-established trade union, continued to contest court actions by the Ministry of Justice to ban it and replace it by a pro-government organization bearing the same name.

In the Oromia region, there were large-scale arrests in different areas during anti-government demonstrations, particularly by school and college students. Some protesters called for the release of Diribi Demissie, a Mecha Tulema Association community leader on trial since 2004. He and his co-defendants were charged with supporting the OLF, but AI considered them prisoners of conscience. Hundreds of Oromo people detained in November 2005 were reportedly still held during 2006 without charge or trial, as well as others detained in previous years for alleged OLF connections.

Numerous people accused of ONLF connections were reportedly detained in the Somali region, and many political prisoners arrested in previous years were still held without charge or trial. Extrajudicial executions were also reported.

In Gambela region in the southwest, there were scores of arrests of members of the Anuak ethnic group. Hundreds of people arrested during mass killings in Gambela town in December 2003 were still detained without charge or trial.

Some 60 peaceful demonstrators belonging to the Sidama ethnic group in the southern region were arrested in Awassa and other southern towns in March. They were all released on bail by May.

Top members of an Inquiry Commission whose finding held the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi responsible for the deaths of 193 civilians fled the country after they declined to obey the premier’s demand to reverse the decision. The Commission had found that 765 people, including 99 women and several children, had been wounded, almost four times the police figure.