PRESS RELEASE

July 29, 2009

"Injustice in Ethiopia is Injustice everywhere"

It has been reported that Mr. BASHIR AHMED MAKHTAL, a Canadian citizen is convicted of guilty verdict on charges of terrorist act. His sentencing is due shortly. It appears that the authorities in Addis Ababa are trying to justify due process of law is being followed up to convince critics who allege the whole system is a sham. Indeed, Mr. Bashir is a victim of a vindictive regime whose rebellious past and Stalinist background targets opposition leaders, academics, human rights and civic leaders, journalists and artists. We have witnessed thousands of those victims who suffered under similar trumpeted charges and gone through highly orchestrated court proceedings which determine fate in advance, even before the officials decide whom to jail next. The doctrine of “presumption of innocence” is not in the legal dictionary of the ruling party as every move is politically motivated.
Mr. Bashir Makhtal has long been condemned guilty soon after he was kidnapped at a gun point, as officials of present day Ethiopia, associate guilt to ones ethnic background or next of kin or your blood relationship. As an Ethiopian from the Ogden region and related to one former leader, Bashir’s fate was determined well before even we knew his whereabouts. Has it not been for media coverage given and appeals by different groups, officials would not even have revealed his identity. They would have murdered him somewhere in Somalia and continue to deny that he has been captured. This is not unprecedented since they came to power 18 years ago. The deaths of several civic and military leaders whom officials are denying , but whereabouts and fates unknown to date are not secrets any longer.
The conviction is not that unexpected from a judicial system which has never been independent. One cannot expect a fair trial from a government which itself is terrorizing its citizens. The Ethiopian government's record of human rights abuse, extra judicial killings and mass arrests has been well documented by different rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, European parliament, CPJ and the United States government State Departments annual country reports.
The current Ethiopian government has been in power for 18 yeas now. It is notoriously known for legislating draconian laws, such as the Press law, NGO and the recent Anti Terrorism law. The judicial system is controlled by cadres of the ruling party who are loyal to implement any orders on how to handle any case brought before the court. The police, security system and the courts are operating in tandem to ensure the leaders ultimate authority over the 80 million populations. Fabrication of charges, planting evidences, selecting and coaching potential witnesses are coordinated tasks of the judicial and security apparatus created by those leaders who are determined to continue their dictatorial authority for an indefinite time.
Currently, Ethiopia is reported being a jail house for far more political prisoners than any sub Saharan country in Africa. It is also reported that the ruling party is still running secret prisons in remote and inaccessible corners of the country which is housing former rebel commanders and opposition figures. The harsh treatment of prisoners and brutal investigative techniques has caused deaths, physical disabilities and mental anguish to several people opposed to their rule.
Unity for Human Rights and Democracy, strongly condems the guilty verdict the officials in Addis Ababa have let the courts pass on Mr. Bashir Makhtal and, we appeal to the Canadian government to immediately intervene and exert pressure on the officials in Ethiopia, for an end to this theatrical process. As the Canadian government has spent millions of tax payer’s money in an attempt to modernize the Ethiopian judicial system, it is in the interest of every Canadian that rule of law and human rights are respected in Ethiopia. We understand Canadian government' is not expecting Mr. Bashir Makhtal is guaranteed due process or freedom from court of law in Ethiopia. Rather, we urge them to review their bilateral aid policy with Ethiopia and exert diplomatic pressures on officials to secure the release of this Canadian citizen who has suffered unbearable ordeals all along since his kidnap over two years ago.
Finally, we call upon all Ethiopian Canadians to join hands together and urge Prime Minister Harper and other government officials to consider this matter as extremely urgent and save Mr. Bashir Makhtal life and ensure his freedom.

Canadian found guilty on Ethiopia terror charges

(AFP) – ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen was found guilty in a court in Ethiopia Monday of terror-related charges that could see him sentenced to death.

Bashir Makhtal was convicted on three charges mainly of inciting rebellion by aiding and abetting armed opposition groups in Ethiopia and being a senior member of a rebel group.

The 40-year-old man, who has denied the charges, is also accused of supporting Somalia's Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopian forces in early 2007 when they intervened in the neighbouring country to prop up its embattled transition government.

Ethiopia's high court is scheduled to hand down his sentence on August 3.

"We will definitely launch an appeal after the sentencing on Monday. We will work on it," his lawyer Gebreamlak Gebregiorgis told AFP in an interview.

Makhtal was among some 150 people detained by Kenyan forces in 2006 on the border with Somalia as they fled the Ethiopian onslaught on the Islamist insurgents.

The trial had been postponed several times this year due to prosecutors' failure to provide witnesses.

EDITORS NOTE:
Few things the Canadian government should do regarding this case:
First, The prime minister of Ethiopia Mr. Meles zenawi by himself was a rebel leader for 17 years who participated in a lot of atrocities, including bank robbery and kidnapping of foreign citizens.
TPLF the ruling party in Ethiopia, is still on the list of CIA terrorist lists.
This verdict is a joke cumming from a terrorist organization that never had an amnesty in a real court of law.
In this case the Canadian government should
1. request the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. makthal in a specific time frame.
2.Suspend all diplomatic ties with the current ruling party in Ethiopia, including suspending all visa to the officials of the current government.
3.Work with other donor countries to pressure the TPLF to be diplomatically and financially isolated, until all political prisoners are freed in Ethiopia.

Free Birtukan Mideksa

Abebe Gellaw
Posted July 16, 2009 World leaders, including President Barack Obama, have called for the immediate release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But how many of them have even heard of Ethiopia’s pro-democracy leader Birtukan Mideksa, the 36-year-old politician and mother who is being held in solitary confinement, condemned to life in prison without due process? Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been brutally efficient in eliminating his political rivals by killing, jailing or forcing them into exile. But because Ethiopia is seen as a “strategic ally” by the U.S., Mr. Obama failed to publicly speak out against human-rights violation by the Zenawi regime on his recent trip to Africa or even mention Ms. Mideksa’s name.
Unlike the Burmese military junta, the Zenawi regime is an ally of the U.S. and its European partners. The Bush administration used to refer to the Zenawi regime as a “linchpin” in the war on terror in the Horn of Africa. While the U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Burma in 1997, Mr. Zenawi has been enjoying a stream of financial and military aid from the U.S. and Europe since he came to power in May 1991 after a bloody power struggle with the dictator Mengistu Hailemariam. Since 2005, Mr. Zenawi has even attended all the G-8 summits and this year’s G-20 meeting in London, despite protests by Ethiopians in the diaspora and human-rights activists.
There’s a good reason why her countrymen call Ms. Mideksa the Aung San Suu Kyi of Ethiopa. In the run up to the 2005 national elections, the first contested election in the history of Ethiopia, Ms. Mideksa joined the Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD). Within a few months she was elected the party’s first vice president. Her party won a landslide victory in most of the places where there were foreign election observers. In the capital, Addis Ababa, the CUD had a clean sweep. Zenawi’s party could only win one single municipal seat. All the 23 contested parliamentary seats went to Ms. Mideksa’s party.
Before the count was completed throughout the country, Mr. Zenawi ordered a state of emergency and froze the count in the remaining districts. Local election observers in remote villages were chased away despite protests by foreign observers, most notably Ana Gomes, chief of the European Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia.
Supporters of the CUD who felt that the election was stolen started protesting. In June and November 2005, the ruling party killed 193 civilians including minors and wounded over 780 others. In a space of one week in November 2005, over 40,000 civilians were rounded up and were detained in harsh military camps.
Over 100 opposition leaders, including Ms. Mideksa, were arrested that same month and charged with “genocide” and treason. They were released after 20 months in jail in July 2007 after a mediation effort by local elders.
While touring Sweden in November last year, Ms. Mideksa refuted government propaganda that its high-profile prisoners were pardoned despite their guilt. She said legally speaking the so-called pardon was null and void as none of the prisoners committed the alleged crimes and the correct procedures were not followed.
As soon as she arrived home, the government launched a vicious propaganda campaign using state-controlled media against her. She was re-arrested in December 2008. Prime Minister Zenawi declared that the pardon granted to Ms. Mideksa was revoked and accused her of banking on support from “powerful friends in powerful positions” in the West. He then announced her life sentence.
President Obama, being of African descent, is in a unique position to influence the Zenawi regime and push for the release of Ms. Mideksa. Until leaders of the Free World take a firm stand against tyranny, regardless of strategic alliances, those who demand freedom will continue to suffer. Most Ethiopians believe Mr. Obama will one day speak out and support their struggle for freedom and dignity. In the meantime, Ms. Mideksa will continue to languish behind bars.
Mr. Gellaw is a Knight / Yahoo! international journalism fellow at Stanford University.