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The new Ethiopian Prime Minister was urged to investigate a series of allegations of torture and abuse involving senior officials in the country's most famous prison.
Jail Ogaden, officially called Jijiga Central Prison, houses thousands of prisoners. According to a Human Rights Watch report released on Thursday, prisoners are routinely beaten and denied access to adequate medical care, to their families, to lawyers, and sometimes to food. . The report alleges that many have never been convicted of a crime.
The report provides the most comprehensive catalog to date of human rights violations in eastern Ethiopia under Somali regional president Abdi Mohamed Omar, commonly known as Abdi. Iley, who ruled Ethiopia's second-largest province since 2010.
A spokesman for the regional government dismissed the allegations as "baseless."
Based on nearly 100 interviews, including 70 ex-Ogaden prison ex-prisoners, rape, sleep deprivation, long-term arbitrary detention, collective punishment and forced confessions between 2011 and early 2018. [19659002] It highlights in particular the role of a 40,000-strong Somali special police unit called Liyu, who Abdi, then head of regional security, created in 2008 as part of a brutal counter-insurgency campaign targeting the National Liberation Front of Ogaden, a secessive rebel group oniste. According to Human Rights Watch, most of the detainees in Ogaden Prison are accused of belonging to the group, although a spokesman for the regional government told The Guardian that all prisoners in the group are in prison. 39, ONLF had been released
. but Jail Ogaden is in a clbad of its own, "said Felix Horne, the author of the report." During my years of researching human rights violations in Ethiopia, I have not been in a clbad of its own. I have not seen such a cycle of torture, humiliation and other abuses in detention as we found when researching Jail Ogaden. "
Ahmed, took office in April following the unexpected resignation of his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, in February, since then he launched a program of reforms, including the release of thousands of prisoners and the pardon of prominent activists and politicians in the corridor of death
The Abiyi government closed the infamous Maekelawi detention center in Addis Ababa, and in June it made the unprecedented decision to admit the complicity of security personnel in the torture. His cabinet then recommended that the National Liberation Front Ogaden, as well as two other rebel groups, are removed from the list of terrorism.
On Wednesday, a few hours before the release of the HRW report, the government announced the senior officials of the federal prison service, including its director.
But the Somali region, one of the most underdeveloped regions of Ethiopia, remains particularly troubled. Last year, hundreds of people lost their lives and nearly one million were displaced in ethnic violence along the border with the neighboring region of Oromia, the locals and the locals. Oromo accusing the Liyu of perpetrating attacks. Oromo security forces have also been accused of abuse. Liyu's attacks have reportedly continued this year, with dozens of houses being burned in May according to reports.
Abdi's critics accuse him of the dominance of a man and hold him responsible for Liyu's atrocities. "Abdi Iley's personal behavior is a threat to the unity and security of the country," said Abdiwasa Bade, a Somali Ethiopian scholar at the University of Addis Ababa, adding that the president has "absolute power" in the region.
In May, regional security forces allegedly hanged a young woman to punish Abdi's harsh criticism by her relatives
. In February, Abdi announced the release of 1,500 prisoners, although local activists claim that only a handful were released. released. In a televised speech on June 15, he announced new releases and said that only 1,600 people remained behind bars in the region.
The report states that Jail Ogaden is "virtually devoid of review or surveillance" and that no one has ever been held responsible for torture or abuse. He calls on the Ethiopian government to set up a commission to investigate the prison and its senior officials, including Abdi.
The report also calls for a comprehensive reform of the Liyu police, echoing a statement by Amnesty International "The former federal administration has turned a blind eye to all the abuses and tortures perpetrated by the forces region, "said Atnaf Berhane, a human rights activist and blogger who, in 2014, said: He spent three months in Maekelawi, where he says that he was regularly tortured.
"The new administration must establish an independent committee to investigate all human rights violations and bring the main actors to justice."
Idris Ismael Abdi said the report was "a smear campaign masked from a human rights perspective".
"The Somali Ethiopian Government He added that the democratic order being built in the Somali region is not free from errors and errors." [But] Prison Central Somali region is a rehabilitation center […] equipped with modern beds and all other basic requirements […] Prisoners receive education, health and all other essential things as an ordinary person. "
He denied that Liyu's police were responsible for the administration of prisons in the area.
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