Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT
5 September 2013
AI Index: AFR 25/003/2013
Amnesty International is concerned that the rights to freedom of expression, association and
assembly are once again under attack in Ethiopia. Two political opposition parties have
reported to Amnesty International the arrests of many of their members in various locations
around the country in recent weeks, in relation to efforts to hold peaceful protests.
Both parties are protesting, among other cited grievances, against the continued imprisonment
of political opposition members, journalists and members of the Muslim community, many of
whose arrests were themselves related to peaceful protest movements.
Blue Party arrests
The Blue (Semayawi) party, a political opposition party, has reported that on the evening of 31
August, federal police and intelligence officers forcefully entered their office in Ginfle in Addis
Ababa, where party members were preparing for a peaceful demonstration planned for the
following day. Party members at the office at the time have told Amnesty International that
everyone present – estimated by them to be between 60 and 90 people – was arrested and
taken to three police stations in Addis Ababa – Sostegna (third) police station, Gedam Sefer
and Jan Meda stations in Arada sub-city. All those arrested were reportedly released without
charge after several hours in detention and after providing their personal details to the police.
A number of arrested party members told Amnesty International that they and many others
were severely beaten while detained at the police stations, resulting in a number of injuries.
One party member detained at Jan Meda police station, told Amnesty International that they
were beaten for about 20 minutes by several policemen and now had pain in their kidneys. The
individual reported that while they were beaten, the police said, “You are eating three times a
day, how can you make a demonstration to bring down the EPRDF [the ruling party]. Do you
think we can let you do this?” Another party member, who was detained at Gedam Sefer police
station, told Amnesty International that he has had treatment for back pain as a result of being
kicked and beaten by police while detained. Another person interviewed by Amnesty
International said that they were only beaten for around five minutes, as they were at the end
of the group “waiting to be beaten.” But, they said, some of those arrested with them were
beaten for over an hour.
The party also reports that police confiscated all equipment and materials found in the party
office, including laptops, sound systems and generators for the demonstration, banners, Tshirts and flags. One of the arrested party members Amnesty International spoke to said that
he and others were forced to remove the Blue party T-shirts they were wearing and hand them
over to the police.
Some party members reported that police had told them that the demonstration was illegal
because they had not received permission. The Blue Party says it had informed the authorities
12 days in advance – much more notice than the 48 hours required by law, and had received
no written response to request a change to the date or location of the demonstration.
According to the Proclamation to Establish the Procedure for Peaceful Demonstration and
Public Political Meeting (No. 3/1991), anyone planning to hold a demonstration must provide
written notice to the relevant authorities 48 hours in advance, providing specifics of the
nature, time, location and number of expected participants. The administrative office must
provide a written response to the applicant within 12 hours if it is preferable that the
demonstration be held at a different time or location. However, opposition parties and
organisers of protests have frequently reported difficulties in attempting to notify the
authorities of planned demonstrations.
A government spokesperson reportedly told the BBC that no such crackdown had taken place.
However, the allegations by Blue Party members fit a long-standing pattern of credible reports
of intimidation of peaceful protestors and of political opposition parties, including arrests and
confiscation of equipment ahead of political meetings.
Unity for Democracy and Justice arrests
The opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ) has also reported that numerous
members of the party were arrested in various locations around the country during July and
August 2013. All were reportedly arrested whilst distributing flyers promoting a series of
demonstrations and public meetings and a related petition demanding the amendment or
abrogation of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the release of UDJ and other political
leaders, religious leaders and journalists currently imprisoned under the law.
AI Index: AFR 25/003/2013
Ethiopia: End stifling of peaceful protests
assembly are once again under attack in Ethiopia. Two political opposition parties have
reported to Amnesty International the arrests of many of their members in various locations
around the country in recent weeks, in relation to efforts to hold peaceful protests.
Both parties are protesting, among other cited grievances, against the continued imprisonment
of political opposition members, journalists and members of the Muslim community, many of
whose arrests were themselves related to peaceful protest movements.
Blue Party arrests
The Blue (Semayawi) party, a political opposition party, has reported that on the evening of 31
August, federal police and intelligence officers forcefully entered their office in Ginfle in Addis
Ababa, where party members were preparing for a peaceful demonstration planned for the
following day. Party members at the office at the time have told Amnesty International that
everyone present – estimated by them to be between 60 and 90 people – was arrested and
taken to three police stations in Addis Ababa – Sostegna (third) police station, Gedam Sefer
and Jan Meda stations in Arada sub-city. All those arrested were reportedly released without
charge after several hours in detention and after providing their personal details to the police.
A number of arrested party members told Amnesty International that they and many others
were severely beaten while detained at the police stations, resulting in a number of injuries.
One party member detained at Jan Meda police station, told Amnesty International that they
were beaten for about 20 minutes by several policemen and now had pain in their kidneys. The
individual reported that while they were beaten, the police said, “You are eating three times a
day, how can you make a demonstration to bring down the EPRDF [the ruling party]. Do you
think we can let you do this?” Another party member, who was detained at Gedam Sefer police
station, told Amnesty International that he has had treatment for back pain as a result of being
kicked and beaten by police while detained. Another person interviewed by Amnesty
International said that they were only beaten for around five minutes, as they were at the end
of the group “waiting to be beaten.” But, they said, some of those arrested with them were
beaten for over an hour.
The party also reports that police confiscated all equipment and materials found in the party
office, including laptops, sound systems and generators for the demonstration, banners, Tshirts and flags. One of the arrested party members Amnesty International spoke to said that
he and others were forced to remove the Blue party T-shirts they were wearing and hand them
over to the police.
Some party members reported that police had told them that the demonstration was illegal
because they had not received permission. The Blue Party says it had informed the authorities
12 days in advance – much more notice than the 48 hours required by law, and had received
no written response to request a change to the date or location of the demonstration.
According to the Proclamation to Establish the Procedure for Peaceful Demonstration and
Public Political Meeting (No. 3/1991), anyone planning to hold a demonstration must provide
written notice to the relevant authorities 48 hours in advance, providing specifics of the
nature, time, location and number of expected participants. The administrative office must
provide a written response to the applicant within 12 hours if it is preferable that the
demonstration be held at a different time or location. However, opposition parties and
organisers of protests have frequently reported difficulties in attempting to notify the
authorities of planned demonstrations.
A government spokesperson reportedly told the BBC that no such crackdown had taken place.
However, the allegations by Blue Party members fit a long-standing pattern of credible reports
of intimidation of peaceful protestors and of political opposition parties, including arrests and
confiscation of equipment ahead of political meetings.
Unity for Democracy and Justice arrests
The opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ) has also reported that numerous
members of the party were arrested in various locations around the country during July and
August 2013. All were reportedly arrested whilst distributing flyers promoting a series of
demonstrations and public meetings and a related petition demanding the amendment or
abrogation of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the release of UDJ and other political
leaders, religious leaders and journalists currently imprisoned under the law.
Seminaret om Stortingsvalg 2013 arrangeres av Selam Etiopisk kvinnerforening i Norge
እስክንድር አሰፋ
ኦስሎ ኖርዌ
Sep 05.2013
ሰላም የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ማህበር በኖርዌ የStortinget 2013 ምርጫን ምክንያት በማድረግ ቅዳሜ ኦገስት 31,2013 የውይይት መድረክ አዘጋጅቶ የተለያዩ በኖርዌ የሚገኙ ተወዳዳሪ የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎችን በመጋበዝ ፖርቲዎቹም ስለድርጅታቸው ማብራሪያናግንዛቤ እንዲሰጡ አድርጓል።
ፖርቲዎቹም ተወካዩቻቸውን በመላክ ለታዳሚው ህዝብ ስለ ድርጅታቸው አላማ እና ተግባር ከዘረዘሩ በኋላ ህዝቡም ያመነበትን ድርጅት በመምረጥ ምርጫው ላይ ንቁ ተሳትፎ እንዲያደርግ መክረዋል። ዝግጅቱም በኖርዌ ሰአት አቆጣጠር ከቀኑ 14.00 ተጀምሮ ከምሽቱ 18.00 በተሳካ ሁኔታ ተጠናቋል።
ሙሉውን ዘገባ ከምስሉ መመልከት ይችላሉ
watch the video part one two
part one
Part two
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Semayawi party attacked, beaten up and ransacked
(AV) In the evening of Saturday August 31, Semayawi Party headquarters around Ginfle, Addis Ababa, was buzzing like a bee hive as nearly one hundred party activists and organizers were busy making posters, writing slogans, stacking flags and other paraphernalia needed for a colorful rally. They were making the final push for a peaceful demonstration they had planned to hold the next morning with their supporters.
These peaceful and law-abiding citizens were doing what true political activists were supposed to do. They wanted to demand justice and freedom. They wanted to petition their rulers to respects the rights of citizens who are being routinely abused, tortured and killed in broad daylight. They only wanted to ask the thuggish TPLF regime to free all prisoners of conscience jailed on trumped-up terrorism and treason charges. They wanted to demand the TPLF to respect its own constitution. They were not preparing to commit acts of terrorism or bank robbery.
Suddenly there was a blackout. Electricity to Semayawi’s headquarters was cut off. Apparently hundreds of heavily armed ‘federal police’ officers had already besieged the office like terrorists.
Yidenekachew Kebede, the party’s legal affairs head and coordinator of the rally was heading to his office. ESAT reached him in good time on his cell phone. He was describing the situation in detail. He was very upset that such a criminality happens with impunity. He was outraged that the TPLF is treating Ethiopians worse than prisoners of war in their own country.
The young lawyer was outraged that the constitution, which the TPLF never respected, was being violated by armed thugs and criminals again. It was another evidence of lawlessness and tyranny that the TPLF has imposed on the people of Ethiopia. Those who were eager to demand freedom and justice for their people became victims of criminality. While he was telling ESAT that his colleagues and friends were under siege, a federal police officer snatched his phone and the line was cut off. Apparently he was detained.
TPLF federal squad broke into the office and ransacked and beat Semayawi’s leaders and members. The party’s chairman Eng. Yilkal Getnet was also arrested and taken to a police station around Gedam Sefer. The thugs reportedly targeted everyone and even savagely attacked and kicked women. They detained all of Semayawi’s operatives found on the party’s premises for hours, kicked and tortured them. Scores of people were even made to roll over mud and dung in a bid to humiliate and degrade them. They were stat at and insulted by TPLF’s thugs.
According to Eng. Yilkal, he was released after a few hours. Other members who were also said to have been roughed up, beaten up and tortured were also freed. But the headquarters has reportedly been trashed. Documents, equipment, and all the materials prepared for the rally were taken away by the federal squad.
Ethiopians in the Diaspora has been expressing outrage on Facebook and Paltalk rooms. What has been the focus of angry discussion is how long the state-sponsored terrorism can go on. The decision to launch an illegal attack against a political party operating legally is another affront to law and order. TPLF’s thuggery and lawlessness has posed serious challenges to every law-abiding citizen. People are abused and tortured without any ground.
Semayawi is a relatively budding political party that should have been accorded protection. But TPLF’s paranoid has reached a critical and dangerous point. The more cornered it is, the more dangerous it is becoming. The attack against Semawi only reveals the level of fear gripping the TPLF and its cronies.
In a press release it issued, Semayawi has vowed to press for justice and rule of law. It emphasized that nothing will distract it from making demands and voicing the concerns of the people of Ethiopia.
In the meantime, Muslim Ethiopians are also being hunted down across the country. TPLF organized a rally in the metropolis on the day and at the venue where Semayawi had planned to stage a protest demonstration. The worst part is that TPLF is trying to create religious conflict among Christians and Muslims. The two religions have co-existed harmoniously for over a millennium. The futile efforts only reveal the fact that TPLF is desperate to survive.
No matter what the TPLF does, the struggle for equality, dignity, justice and freedom continues….
Esconder Asefa
Jailed: top TPLF warlord Woldesilassie’s kingdom of death and deceit crumbles
September 1, 2013
by Getahune Bekele-South Africa
The Horn Times Newsletter
The Horn Times Newsletter
A face tinged with cruelty, wealthy warlord Woldesilssie W.Micael
He was the dead tyrant Meles Zenawi’s alter ego and docile horse for 21 years and the most feared man in the complex TPLF security cluster. He amassed millions through corrupt practices and managed to build his own kingdom in partnership with equally corrupt former first lady Azeb Mesfin and her daughter Semhal Meles, the two queens of his vast empire.
The malevolent warlord was well protected by the Zenawi family for 21 years and well placed in the inner circle of the ruling elite where lack of maturity among the junta often led to political upheavals, quarrelling, divisions, and susceptibility to large-scale thieving.
However, exactly one year after Zenawi’s death, a TPLF splinter group led by the ‘retired’ old codger Sebehat Nega, convinced chief spy Getachew Assefa to capture the vulnerable Woldselassie Woldemicael and throw him into the dark cells of central intelligence prison in Addis Ababa.
He was caught while enjoying the transcendental beauty of one of his flower farms outside Addis Ababa, near Holeta Genet town.
The most violent man who allegedly killed Zenawi’s ideological rival, former minister of communications Ato Ayenew in front of his wife and children and gained more notoriety when he pulled out a machete and barbarically chopped off the head of former palace security boss Tegadalay Zerhu, is now awaiting his fate after being arrested on corruption charges last week.
“Today I reaped a great harvest for the great leader.” The condemned warlord nicknamed by the ruling Tigre coterie “the red Khmer Rouge” reportedly told his commander whose name is known to the Horn Times after the gruesome killing of tegadaly Zerhu.
According to our sources inside the TPLF hierarchy, tegadaly Zerhu sympathizers who were longing for justice since Zenawi’s death are currently preparing to bring additional charges of murder against the jailed super-rich warlord.
“His fatal strategic error was that he remained loyal to Zenawi’s wife even after the tyrant’s death while others quickly switched side and joined the powerful Sibehat Nega clique. The ill-educated Woldesilassie played the loyalty game badly and ended up in jail. I doubt if he ever walks out of that prison alive. The desire to enjoy his corruptly accumulated wealth undisturbed has been lost because of his own terrible miscalculation of circumstances.” A political analyst based in Addis Ababa told the Horn Times.
“No one in the rival camp is safe or able to remain unruffled in the face of such onslaught disguised as anti-corruption drive. Tigray republic president Abbay Woldu, adviser to the Prime Minister Berket Simeon and, more important, mother of corruption Azeb Mesfin are deeply disturbed by the arrest of Woldesilassie whom they regard as their son. The cornered widow of the late ruler even let loose a torrent of swear-words directed at spy boss Getachew Assefa, but mark my words, she is next.” The analyst added.
Moreover, according to other credible reports obtained by the Horn Times, since her removal as CEO of EFFORT few days ago, Azeb Mesfin has been barred from leaving the country until the ongoing investigations into misappropriation of funds; tax evasion, money laundering, and alleged corruption are completed.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
How Can We be Free? (Henoke Yeshetlla’s Poet, Part I)
by HENOKE YESHETLLA
How can we be free if we are shackled by the despondency of silence, even at the stake of the most dismissive, improbable and fatiguing house hold compliancy.
How can we be free, if we are keenly scrutinized by our self generated fear, if we are dwarfed by our tear, if we are mitigated by our delusional prosperity? How can we be free if we are pushed to the calamites of the cynical power and become the proponent of that power? History is secular and obscure for us, we don’t know that we have an inverted and diminished sense of view to what we clamed we knew, basking in the ambiance of self contradiction and having a contra positive personality is a well known yet calculated decisions for us, an amenable day to day life, a life that we endorse and die to live for…Who we are, what are we…? How can we be free?
Our forefathers believed in God and lived not in the state of self exultation, nor we inherited this care free personality from them but we exhausted their hope and exulted in our failures. How can we be free, if we still believe in ignorance, in-sensitiveness, negligence and absurdity? How can we be free while being the power house of delinquency, blasphemy, an alien to the glimpse of fertility, phobic to an incessant struggle, and inferior to our own moral values and principles?
How can we be free, if we are silenced when the judge irrationally persecute and prosecute the innocence, the police arresting the teenagers and the elderly , the army kills the religious…how can we be free?
How can we be free, with a fluctuating self representation of ours to a palpitating incident ray of an un- free voices?
We are a feeble to our existence, always marching but to recede, always fighting but to surrender, always, fighting but to die, always grouping but to crack down, always standing but to fall! We have no objective nor values to die for, we have no stamina to the cause we believed is right, we are insufficient of our own sufficiency, we stick to what is called hit and run; we are truly a geek for our own calamity, a virus to our own flesh, and an assurance to our own disgrace! How can one be free?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)