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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian Attorney General announced the dismissal of detention center officials for human rights violations a few hours before the publication Thursday of a report by Human Rights Watch on torture in a regional prison.
Berhanu Tsegaye stated that senior prison officials "had been relieved of their duties for failing to respect the responsibilities and respect the human rights of prisoners", according to the broadcaster Fana Broadcasting, affiliated with the state, Wednesday
. It should be noted that the prison authorities were fired several hours before the publication of a heartbreaking Human Rights Watch report describing systematic torture in Jail Ogaden, a jail in Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region of Ethiopia.
and regional authorities never responded to letters sent in April and May to convey the group's findings. The report calls for an investigation into prison abuses as well as criminal charges against those responsible.
Ethiopia has long been criticized for its gross violations of human rights and prison conditions, but a new prime minister inaugurated in April spoke forcefully.
At a historic Q & A session before Parliament in June, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed condemned the historical use of torture by the security services, describing it as a form of terrorism". [19659007] Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, presented at the 32nd Extraordinary Summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Addis Ababa in June, condemned the historical use of torture by the security services. (Yonas Tadesse / AFP / Getty Images)
"Does the constitution require that people be flogged, wounded, kept in dark rooms?" This is not the case. </ P> <p> Terrorist act of us, the government, "he said.
Abiy, who will visit the United States this month, has also released thousands of prisoners and has reached out to the political opposition and rebel groups. The Human Rights Watch report focuses on the Somali region, which has been the target of criticism from advocacy groups of its president, Abdi Moahmoud Omar, known as Abdi Illey, and his police Regional Liya (1965-1911). The Ethiopian federal system, the regions have a lot of autonomy and a real test of Abiy's reforms will be whether they are extended to the Somali region, where rights groups say the authorities are particularly oppressive and federal control of prisons. "We were always told to humble ourselves, but the worst was that one day they gathered a number of prisoners and were told to beat another person to death," said one prisoner. from Human Rights Watch. report. "They had metal sticks to give us for that, and it was said that if I refused, I would have to commit suicide."
[ After the unrest, the Ethiopians have a wave of dying. unlikely hope. Will it last?]
Interviews with 70 former prisoners revealed pervasive torture, rape and horrible conditions of detention. Women often became pregnant after being raped by guards and other prison officials, and then had to give birth in the prison.
"I asked to be taken to the hospital for birth. They laughed, "said a woman quoted in the report. "Then I gave birth in prison.The women had a piece of sharp metal that they used to cut the umbilical cord and they tied it themselves."
Abdi came to power some 10 years earlier when an anti-government insurgency raged and he brutally repressed his police Liyu. Last week, this rebel group, the Liberation Front of Ogaden, was removed from the terror list by the federal government.
Like the rest of the country The people of the Somali region, which was also shaken by record droughts, increasingly protested Abdi Illey's regime.
The elders also went to Addis Ababa to complain to the federal government. the government on the excesses of Abdi.
According to journalist Zecharias Zelalem, who has been a part of the media coverage of these unrest, these gatherings have declined in the face of the strong repression of the regional government. nt.
"From what I've heard, things have slowed down in recent weeks, particularly after the arrest on June 5 of some 40 alleged organizers of protests. , sympathizers in Jijiga, "he said. "The arrests and threats have taken their toll, I would say."
The question now is whether the Somali region will benefit from the democratic opening that is unfolding with great fanfare in the rest of the country under the leadership of Abiy.
A recent analysis in the Africa Report, however, indicated that the president of the Somali region may be difficult to dislodge from his personal fiefdom.
"Abiy's leeway is limited. Any attempt to subdue Abdi's autonomy will likely encounter strong resistance. His power to depose regional elected officials is limited, "he notes.
Read more:
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