OLLAA has received a credible report regarding the recent arbitrary arrest and detention of Bilisumma Husen Aliyi.
Bilisumma Husen Aliyi was born in Hasasa district, West Arsi zone, Oromia. She graduated with a degree in Business Management from Oromia State University and has run multiple businesses in Adama city over the past 8 years, including a bookstore and music gallery. Currently, she owns a design shop that creates Oromo cultural clothes. Bilisumma is known for her courage and strong work ethic within her community.
At around 10 am on the morning of September 9, 2022, Ethiopian security personnel approached Bilisumma’s office and told her that they wanted to take her in for questioning. They did not present a court order for her arrest. Despite the fact that the Ethiopian constitution prescribes that a person who has been detained should be brought before a court of law within 48 hours of their arrest, she was held unlawfully for three days. At long last, Blisumma was brought before a court, but remains in police custody after the court denied her bail. As of this time, her case has been adjourned.
This is not the first time Bilisumma has been arrested without cause by government officials. Last year, she was incarcerated for three months and twenty days in Lideta police station in Finfinnee after she spoke at the 2021 International Women’s Day celebration organized by the Oromo Federal Congress, a legally registered political party, at their headquarters in Finfinnee. At that time, she was accused of using her speech to spread hate speech. While detained, government security personnel denied her contact with her lawyer for a brief time. After three months, the court closed the case and ordered her release, but Bilisumma did not receive any compensation as reparation for the illegal detention she had experienced.
International Law
The right to a fair trial includes the right to habeas corpus, meaning the right for a person to be brought before a judge or court of law in order to determine if their detention was lawful, and the right of access to legal counsel. Furthermore, these rights also include the right for an individual to be informed of the reason for their arrest and the right to compensation for illegal detentions. These rights are guaranteed in multiple international human rights conventions that Ethiopia is a party to, including the ICCPR and the ACHRPR, and is recognized in the FDRE Constitution. Based on the above facts, the Ethiopian government is in clear violation of these rights in the case of Bilisuma Husen.