Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
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three-meter room with about fifteen other deta<strong>in</strong>ees. One month later, he was transferred to the jail at the Ambo<br />
police station, where he was conf<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> a small room with approximately sixty other deta<strong>in</strong>ees. Because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
lack <strong>of</strong> space, they had to take turns ly<strong>in</strong>g down to sleep. He was brought before a local judge four or five times,<br />
and each time the court granted the prosecution a cont<strong>in</strong>uance to cont<strong>in</strong>ue <strong>in</strong>vestigations and he was not charged<br />
with any crime. He was released on June 14, 2002 on 3,000 birr (U.S.$360) bail. After his release, local <strong>of</strong>ficials<br />
prevented him from return<strong>in</strong>g to work at the school, and he had no <strong>in</strong>come. 61<br />
Another <strong>in</strong>tellectual arrested at Ambo was Dr. Ephrem Mamo, a veter<strong>in</strong>arian who had previously been a<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essor at AAU and dean <strong>of</strong> Alemayehu Agricultural College. Dr. Ephrem, who was released <strong>in</strong> early July, told<br />
acqua<strong>in</strong>tances he had not been ill-treated. 62 A university graduate work<strong>in</strong>g for the district agriculture <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>in</strong><br />
Bako was also deta<strong>in</strong>ed at the Ambo palace for approximately two months. 63<br />
Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviewed two other Ambo men who said that they saw several deta<strong>in</strong>ees beaten<br />
and tortured while they were deta<strong>in</strong>ed at the Ambo palace. One said prison guards treated student deta<strong>in</strong>ees the<br />
worst. The other recounted how police burned a student with a hot iron all over his body and clubbed another<br />
local man with a metal bar that peeled <strong>of</strong>f sk<strong>in</strong> on his buttocks and arms. The two, who were deta<strong>in</strong>ed at the<br />
palace from April 8 until June 13 and 19, respectively, said they had not been physically ill-treated. However,<br />
one said that police had threatened him and, while <strong>in</strong>terrogat<strong>in</strong>g him, had written down the names <strong>of</strong> his<br />
children. 64<br />
Even some primary school students, some as young as n<strong>in</strong>e, were deta<strong>in</strong>ed. A pr<strong>of</strong>essor at Addis Ababa<br />
University lamented that his eleven-year-old nephew, whose father had died <strong>of</strong> natural causes the year before, had<br />
been arrested <strong>in</strong> early April <strong>in</strong> Dembi Dolo and deta<strong>in</strong>ed for nearly three months. “I talked to him on the phone.<br />
He doesn’t understand. . . . The boy’s mother almost died <strong>of</strong> grief; first she lost her husband and now her first<br />
born and only son was taken away. There are hundreds <strong>of</strong> cases like that.” 65 A European diplomat who visited<br />
the prison <strong>in</strong> Dembi Dolo met an eleven-year-old deta<strong>in</strong>ee who had been <strong>in</strong> prison for a week and suspended from<br />
school for a year for writ<strong>in</strong>g “I support the OLF” on the blackboard at school. 66 A resident <strong>of</strong> Gella told a<br />
journalist that twenty-seven children were arrested there and forced to walk thirty kilometers to the prison <strong>in</strong><br />
Dembi Dolo, where they were deta<strong>in</strong>ed for two months for s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g a song <strong>in</strong>sult<strong>in</strong>g members <strong>of</strong> the TPLF. 67<br />
Eleven children aged n<strong>in</strong>e to thirteen were also reportedly suspended from school <strong>in</strong> Dembi Dolo for wear<strong>in</strong>g<br />
black cloth<strong>in</strong>g to school to <strong>in</strong>dicate that they were <strong>in</strong> mourn<strong>in</strong>g for the students who were killed <strong>in</strong> Shambu. 68<br />
Human Rights Watch has cont<strong>in</strong>ued to receive reports <strong>of</strong> arbitrary arrest by Oromia police even though<br />
most <strong>of</strong> those arrested <strong>in</strong> the wake <strong>of</strong> the protests have s<strong>in</strong>ce been freed. In Guder on July 5, 2002, at least eleven<br />
civilians were arrested, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the director <strong>of</strong> Guder Senior Secondary School and five teachers. 69 Police <strong>in</strong><br />
Nazret reportedly deta<strong>in</strong>ed four students, along with one <strong>of</strong> their fathers, on October 25 and 26, 2002, and<br />
announced plans to arrest thirty-six more students. The students are members <strong>of</strong> the Gumii club <strong>of</strong> Nazret<br />
(Adama) Senior Secondary School and a local junior high school. Sources <strong>in</strong> exile reported that their alleged<br />
<strong>in</strong>fraction was pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g a textbook on Oromo cultural history. 70<br />
61 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviews, Addis Ababa, July 27 and 31, 2002.<br />
62 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview with a foreign researcher who met Dr. Ephrem, July 13, 2002.<br />
63 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 27, 2002.<br />
64 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviews, Addis Ababa, July 31, 2002.<br />
65 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 17, 2002.<br />
66 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 25, 2002.<br />
67 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 27, 2002.<br />
68 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 27, 2002.<br />
69 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, New York, July 8, 2002.<br />
70 Union <strong>of</strong> Oromo Students <strong>in</strong> Europe, Swiss Branch, “Urgent Action: Fear <strong>of</strong> disappearance, arbitrary arrest,” November 2,<br />
2002.<br />
Human Rights Watch<br />
17<br />
January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)