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Gumii Paarlaamaa Oromoo (GPO)
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Gumii Paarlaamaa Oromoo (GPO)
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Arrests of Oromo Opposition members: March/April & August/September
Amnesty International Report
25december 2011
Between 200 and 300 ethnic Oromos were arrested in March and April
in widespread sweeps in the Oromia region and in Addis Ababa.1
Arrests were reported from towns across the region, including Moyale,
Jimma, Harar and Nekemte.
At least 89 members of the two largest Oromo political parties – the
Oromo Federalist
Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Oromo People’s Congress (OPC) were
among those arrested. Many of them had been members of the national
parliament or of the Oromia regional assembly from 2005 to 2010, and
had also stood unsuccessfully for re-election in the 2010 general
elections. For instance Berhanu Emiru, arrested in April, is a
member of the Executive Committee of the OFDM, and a high school
physics teacher. Berhanu campaigned in the 2010 elections and
authored documents such as statements and media articles for the
party. 32 of those arrested, including Asfaw Ngasso, Gutu Mulesa and
Mengesha Tolesa, were OPC candidates in the 2010 elections. Asfaw
Ngasso and Gutu Mulesa were also OPC members of parliament between
2005 and 2010.
A number of youth and student members of the two parties, including
a 17 year old girl who was a supporter of the OFDM, were also
arrested in the March and April sweeps.
1 The government was not able to provide more specific information
on numbers arrested, numbers charged or numbers released without
charge. The two Oromo political parties have information on their
own members who were affected, but comprehensive information on
these arrests is not available.
A
second round-up of Oromo opposition parties’ members occurred in
late August and early
September with at least 20 people being arrested. Among those
arrested were nine OFDM
and OPC members including Bekele Gerba, an English teacher at
deputy chairman of the OFDM, and Olbana Lelisa, an OPC party
official. Both men had met with Amnesty International delegates just
days before their arrests.
All the OPC and OFDM members were arrested on suspicion that they
were members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an armed insurgent
group which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the
Ethiopian parliament in June 2011. Members of the Oromo political
opposition have been charged with OLF membership countless times in
the past. The OFDM and OPC told Amnesty International that a number
of their members arrested in March and April have subsequently
disappeared, leading to concerns that these individuals are being
held in arbitrary detention. The families of these individuals have
reported to OFDM and OPC that they have never been produced in court
and that their current location is unknown. Amnesty International
requested information about the details of all those arrested in
Oromia and
2. According to OPC officials, arrests continued in the Oromia
region between September and November, and in particular in the
Wallega, Ambo and Harar areas of Oromia. Sometime in September,
Bekele Argasa, a student at
2 Meeting between Amnesty International and Ministry of Justice,
3 Repressive legislation introduced in 2009 massively impeded the
ability of human rights organisations to function in
THE CHARGES
The defendants have been charged in six different cases. In three of
the cases, members of the OPC and OFDM political parties are
defendants. The other three cases consist of journalists and members
of other opposition political parties as the defendants. In the
latter three cases the journalists and opposition members were
charged alongside other individuals. In all six cases the defendants
have reported that some or all of their co-defendants are unknown to
them despite being charged together for alleged involvement in the
same crimes.
CHARGES AGAINST THE OROMO POLITICAL OPPOSITION MEMBERS
The 98 members of the OFDM and OPC parties were all charged on the
basis of alleged involvement with the banned Oromo Liberation Front,
which has been proscribed as a terrorist entity by the Ethiopian
parliament. However, they were charged with crimes under the
Criminal Code, rather than the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
The 98 were charged in three cases. 69 of those arrested in March
and April are defendants in
the Federal Prosecutor vs. Teshale Bekashi and others.
The remaining 20 arrested in March and April are defendants in
the Federal Prosecutor vs. Ghetnet Ghemechu Ghemta and
others.
Nine party members arrested in August and September are defendants
in
the Federal
Prosecutor vs. Bekele Gerba and others.
The names of the individuals charged in each of these cases are
included in the appendix of this report.
5 Five entities were proscribed as terrorist organisations by the
Ethiopian parliament in June 2011: the Oromo Liberation Front and
the Ogaden National Liberation Front – both armed groups which have
waged long-term low-level insurgencies against the Ethiopian
government; the Ginbot 7 Movement for Democracy and Justice – an
opposition group in exile; al-Shabab (armed Islamist group in
6 Criminal Code (2005)
11
THE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VS TESHALE BEKASHI AND OTHERS
The 69 defendants7 in the case
‘the Federal Prosecutor vs Teshale Bekashi and others’
were charged on 8 May:
1st charge: against all defendants: ‘Attacking the Political or
Territorial Integrity of the State’ (Art. 241, Criminal Code);
2nd charge: against 2nd, 14th, 40th, and 61st defendants: ‘Material
Preparation for Subversive Acts’ (Art. 256, Criminal Code);
3rd charge: against 8th, 10th, 14th, 36th, 57th, and 63rd
defendants: ‘Provocation and Preparation’ (Art. 257, Criminal
Code);8
THE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VS GHETNET GHEMECHU GHEMTA AND OTHERS
The 20 defendants in the case
‘the Federal Prosecutor vs Ghetnet Ghemechu Ghemta and others’
were charged in June. All defendants were charged with one offence:
1st charge: against all defendants: ‘Attacking the Political or
Territorial Integrity of the
State’ (Art. 241, Criminal Code).
THE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VS BEKELE GERBA AND OTHERS
The nine defendants in the case
‘the Federal Prosecutor vs Bekele Gerba and others’
were charged on 12 October:
1st charge: against all defendants: ‘Attacking the Political or
Territorial Integrity of the State’ (Art. 241, Criminal Code);
2nd charge: against the 9th defendant: ‘Material Preparation for
Subversive Acts’ (Art. 256, Criminal Code);
3rd charge: against the 2nd and 7th defendants: ‘Provocation and
Preparation’ (Art. 257, Criminal Code9).
7 See Appendix for full list of defendants in all three of these
cases
8 This charge relates to the group of charges titled ‘Crimes Against
the Constitution or the State’, Criminal Code, Part II, Book III,
Crimes Against the State or Against National or International
Interests, Sub-section I – Crimes Against the Constitution or the
State 9 As above
CHARGES
THE OPC AND OFDM ARRESTS
The accusation of supporting the OLF is frequently used to silence
members of the Oromo political opposition. Countless members of
Oromo opposition parties have been arrested and prosecuted on this
basis in the past. For example, in February 2010, during the run-up
to general elections, the OPC announced that more than 150 party
officials had been arrested in less than five months, all for
allegedly supporting the OLF.
Many of the members of the OPC and OFDM political parties arrested
during 2011 reported a long history of harassment in the course of
their political activities, particularly during election campaigning
for the 2010 elections. Several members of both parties who
werearrested in March and April reported that in the weeks before
their arrests they had received phone calls warning them that they
would be arrested if they did not join the ruling party.
Bekele Gerba and Olbana Lelisa, who were arrested in August, have
both experienced repeated harassment, particularly during their
campaigning for the 2010 elections. Both were under regular
surveillance before their arrests and Bekele Gerba had previously
been questioned about people he had met with. Bekele Gerba and
Olbana Lelisa met with Amnesty International delegates in the days
immediately before their arrests. The Amnesty International
delegates were photographed by plain-clothed security agents as they
were leaving Bekele Gerba’s office in the
In the case of 69 members of the OFDM and OPC opposition parties,
evidence cited in support of the charge of ‘Provocation and
Preparation’ for Crimes against the Constitution or the state,
includes poems, tracts and papers written by defendants, including
one called ‘What can we learn from the Egyptian civil disobedience?’
and another called ‘Oromo is a struggle against slavery’. Of 48
pieces of documentary evidence cited against the 69 individuals, 38
items are written confessions from defendants made in Maikelawi
detention centre. As will be explained below, Amnesty International
is concerned that a large proportion of these confessions may have
been extracted under duress.
Bekele Gerba and Olbana Lelisa both reported that during
interrogation they were questioned about their meetings with Amnesty
International delegates. All of these acts which detainees were
reportedly questioned about are examples of these individuals
exercising their constitutionally and internationally protected
rights to freedom of expression and association.
A family member of one of the Oromo detainees arrested in March also
told Amnesty
International that he was not permitted to see his brother for two
months following his arrest. The wife of one of the detainees
reported that she had only been permitted to visit her husband on
three occasions in five months. The wife of another detainee told
Amnesty International that she was threatened with arrest when she
requested to visit her husband in Maikelawi. In many cases, Amnesty
International was told, families of the detainees were not informed
of their relative’s whereabouts for periods of up to two months
after their initial arrest. Many of the OFDM and OPC party members
who were arrested were brought from across the Oromia region to
In a small number of cases, legal representatives attempted to visit
the detainees during the initial weeks of their detention, but were
denied access in each instance. The significant majority of the 114
detainees listed in this report had no access to legal
representatives during the first one to three months of their
detention. In most cases this time period corresponded with the
length of time the detainee spent in detention before they were
charged and their trials subsequently began. Most detainees had
access to a lawyer for the first time on the first day of their
trials when they were allocated a state lawyer. In some cases of the
OPC and OFDM detainees arrested in March and April this meant
detainees spent four months in detention without access to a legal
representative at any point.
TORTURE AND OTHER FORMS OF ILLTREATMENT
The use of torture against detainees in Maikelawi, including against
journalists and political opposition members has been frequently
reported. In August Amnesty International delegates repeatedly
requested access to visit detainees in Maikelawi, but these requests
were rejected by the authorities.
As stated above, denial of access to lawyers and family members
significantly increases detainees’ risk of being subjected to
torture or other forms of ill-treatment. The information and reports
obtained by Amnesty International from opposition members and
journalists cited in this report suggest that many of the detainees
experienced torture or other forms of illtreatment.
In all cases the torture and ill-treatment reportedly took place
during the period when the detainees were denied access to family
members. The detainees reported that they were interrogated during
the first two to three weeks of their detention in Maikelawi. A
significant number of the 114 opposition members and journalists
detained complained of torture and other forms of ill-treatment
during interrogation in
Maikelawi. These complaints were particularly prevalent among the
detainees from the OPC and OFDM political parties. Torture and other
forms of ill-treatment reported to Amnesty International included
beating, kicking and punching, beating with objects, including with
a chair, and pieces of wire and metal, being tied and suspended by
the wrists from the wall or ceiling, sleep deprivation, forced
physical activity over a long period, being held in isolation and
being held in complete darkness for prolonged periods.
Several detainees told Amnesty International that their hands were
tied to the wall above their heads for periods of two or three days,
while they were beaten. One former detainee showed Amnesty
International deep scars around his wrists, reportedly resulting
from this treatment. Several detainees have reported that during the
initial stages of detention they were held in complete darkness for
sustained periods, up to two weeks in some cases. Several detainees
reported that during interrogation in Maikelawi they were forced to
reveal their e-mail passwords. Some were severely beaten to reveal
their passwords, another was verbally harassed and threatened in
order to obtain the password. In several cases the contents of
individuals’ e-mail accounts have been cited as evidence against
them.
27 It was reported to Amnesty International that during the trial of
Berhanu Emiru, e-mails were cited as evidence against him, which
were later proven to have been fabricated. The e-mails were written
from Berhanu’s e-mail account after he had been arrested and was
already detained in Maikelawi. The e-mails were withdrawn as
evidence.
A number of detainees sustained injuries as a result of these acts.
Those injured reported that they were subsequently denied access to
medical care in Maikelawi.
Many of the members of Oromo political parties who were detained in
March and April were arrested in various locations across the Oromia
region and transferred to
In August, opposition politician Zerihun Gebre-Egziabher and
journalist Woubshet Taye both complained during pre-trial hearings
that they had experienced torture whilst detained in Maikelawi.28
Zerihun reported that he had sustained injuries as a result of
beating, including suspected broken ribs and pain in his ear, and
told the court that he required medical attention. The court
reportedly dismissed Woubshet’s complaint with no further
investigation.
In response to Zerihun’s complaint, the court instructed that any
ill-treatment of Zerihun should cease, and ordered that Zerihun
should be taken to a hospital for treatment. Although Zerihun
experienced no further ill-treatment after this court appearance, he
was not taken to a hospital nor allowed a doctor’s visit. He says
that the guards in Maikelawi told him that
“there are no health services for terrorists.”
In November, after Zerihun had been moved to Kaliti prison, he was
finally given permission to see a nurse and received medication for
his injuries.
On 10 November, during the hearing at which he and his co-defendants
were charged, Nathaniel Mekonnen complained to the court that he had
been constantly subjected to torture and other forms of
ill-treatment in detention. Nathaniel reported that he had been
repeatedly beaten and deprived of sleep over a period of 23 days.
28 The two men were detained in Maikelawi after their arrests in
June until they were charged in September and moved to Kaliti prison
Amnesty International understands that there has been no further
investigation into any of these complaints of the use of torture, or
any attempt to identify the perpetrators. Amnesty International
raised these reports of ill-treatment with various representatives
of the Ethiopian government. On each occasion a variation of the
same response was received – the government representatives all
denied that torture takes place at Maikelawi, though they
acknowledge that these and other allegations have not been
investigated. In August an official from the Ministry of Justice
told Amnesty International that investigations into allegations of
torture at Maikelawi did not need to take place because he knew that
such things did not happen.29
EVIDENCE ELICITED BY TORTURE OR OTHER ILL-TREATMENT
Amnesty International has received reports that a large number of
the defendants in the six trials of opposition members and
journalists were forced, under duress, to sign confessions or to
sign other documents that would be presented against them as
evidence. In the case of the group of 69 members of the OFDM and OPC
parties
‘Teshale Bekashi et al’,
the charge sheet lists
written confessions as evidence against 38 defendants. According to
OPC party officials a large number of these detainees were coerced
into signing the confessions.
A defendant in one of the other cases reported that during his
interrogation attempts were repeatedly made to force him to sign
various incriminating documents to acknowledge ownership of them.
Two detainees have reported that they were tortured to force them to
reveal their e-mail password. E-mails allegedly found in the
accounts of both defendants have been listed as evidence against
them in the charge sheets. Two other defendants reported that during
interrogation they were heavily pressurised to testify against other
members of the group with whom they were arrested.
CONCLUSION:
As the Prime Minister already intimated in October when he told
parliament that further arrests would take place, the crackdown
continues. In the first week of December Amnesty International
received reports that at least 135 people had been arrested across
Oromia, including members and supporters of the OPC and OFDM
political parties. The Prime Minister’s speech in parliament also
indicated that figures among the senior leadership of Medrek – the
Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum – a coalition of eight of
the leading opposition parties in the country, are also at risk of
arrest.
Arbitrary detentions and disappearances
Ensure that the Ministry of Justice and law enforcement bodies make
available full details of all those arrested during 2011, including
information on members of the OPC and OFDM parties, students from
Jimma, Haromaya and Nekemte, and other individuals arrested in
Oromia. Information must include the names, current location and
detention status of all detainees;
TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Amnesty International calls on the United Nations, European Union,
African Union, and governments having close political and economic
relations with Ethiopia, all of which have made commitments and
developed policies including respect for human rights in their aid
and political relations, to:
Conduct systematic monitoring of the ongoing terrorism trials and
the trials of members of the Oromo political opposition arrested
during 2011, through representatives of the international community
based in
DEFENDANTS AND
CHARGES IN THE three CASES
DEFENDANTS IN THE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VS TESHALE BEKASHI AND OTHERS
1. Teshale Bekashi Ayana
2. Tirfessa Megerssa Hundie
3. Alemayehu Garansso Chimssa
4. Mulatu Abdissa Gobana
5. Lijalem Taddesse Gudina
6. Hassen Mohammed Amin
7. Adugna Begna
8. Milkessa Waqjirra Gemeda
9. Samson Alemu Kitessa
10. Gemechu Amisho Gelgelo
11. Usman Umar Tesogillo
12. Jarsso Borru Raro
13. Ismael Keliffa Muzein
14. Kefale Fetenne Gebeyehu
15. Gutu Mulissa Gedeffa
16. Hussein Bersso Godana
17. Tolessa Becho
18. Kanu Gunos Demissie
19. Gizachew Abdissa Baissa
20. Etana Senbetto Tucho
21. Lemessa Dessissa Genete
22. Abera Biqilla Tolessa
23. Tukie Tibisso
24. Belay Kormie Baissa
25. Hassen Aman Sege
26. Mezgebu Debella Waqjira
27. Asfaw Angessu Benti
28. Bontu Wdai Bulla (Female)
29. Beshir Dadi Fufa
30. Alemayehu Tolessa Liban
31. Hawi Gonfa Debella (Female)
32. Taddesse Gelalicha
33. Teferi Kenanissa Gemechu
34. Bulcha Soressa
35. Mohammed Seliho Waqo
36. Sorssa Debella Gelalicha
37. Teshale Edossa Diriba
38. Erpa Dube Dikamo
39. Muktar Usman
40. Umar Bassa
41. Mohammed Hussein
42. Chali Tolessa Nika
43. Diriba Negessa Muleta
44. Mengesha Tolessa Dessie
45. Amentie Solomon Bekele
46. Nure Haji Kemal
47. Wegayehu
48. Taddesse Moti Tura
49. Adurazaq Ababiyya
50. Mengistu Wordefa
51. Efferem Geleta
52. Mohammed Tukie
53. Tolessa Beddada
54.Mengistu Girma
55. Rashid Jamal
56. Takale Abdeta
57. Kalil Jamal
58. Melesse Chala
59. Hussein Abdala
60. Wassie Gaddissa
61. Solomon Temesgen Belay
62. Getachew Edossa
63. Tariku Debissa
64. Wagari Lachissa
65. Erpassa Drirssa
66. Chaluma Likessa
67. Gurmessa Tuffa
68. Chimdessa Mintas Gutata
69. Dawit Abdissa
DEFENDANTS IN THE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR VS GHETNET GHEMECHU GHEMTA
AND OTHERS
1. Ghetnet Ghemechu Ghemta
2. Tekalign Abera Gemeda
3. Miteku Ghetachow Ejeta
4. Aobsa Alemu Foghe Dano
5. Ghetu Assefa Irisa
6. Dodola Bunna Finquile
7. Rabira Aderi Buzu
8. Muhdin Ababulegu Abaghero
9. Khalid Mohamed Abdellah
10. Tesfu Motora Woyessa
11. Megehrsa Kuma Diririsa
12. Demise Dabessa Insa
13. Wagari Dribisa Witu
14. Desalegn Debol Hora
15. Ghetachow Buru Gurmessa
16. Chale Abdisa Bulgu
17. Hamza Abdu Ibrahim
18. Col. Fekade Regasa Jollu
19. Deribachow Amente Buli
20. Letchesa Idosa Deriba
1. Bekele Gerba Dako
2. Olbana Lelisa Oljra
3. Welbeka lemi Dedefi
4. Adem Busa Kabeto
5. Hawa Wako Boru
6. Mohamed Melu Sori
7. Dereje Ketema Motuma
8. Addisu Mokre Gebregiorgie
9. Gelgelo Gufa Abyo
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