“We vehemently asked the Court to release us if there is no evidence against us, or convict us if the court got adequate evidence to convict us, though the Court did not set free us despite the absence of any piece of evidence that proves the police’s allegation against us.”
A group of unarmed boys and young men, crouched on the ground. Huddled together on the rocky terrain, surrounded on all sides by soldiers with the Ethiopian flag sewn onto their shoulders and guns hanging by their sides.
This is the unsettling opening image of a video clip that emerged in the last few weeks. The footage, shot by a soldier-turned-whistleblower, has been analyzed by Amnesty International and CNN, revealing its location to be Mahibere Dego, in mountainous central Tigray.
Over the course of the video, the boys and young men are systematically shot before being dragged and kicked off a cliff.
The extent of the horrific abuses committed by Ethiopian security forces continues to send shockwaves through the international community. The footage, which enabled Amnesty International to identify the Amharic-speaking soldiers as Ethiopian, further evinces the cruelty and suffering that government security forces have committed against their own people.
Yet this footage comes as less of a shock to the many Ethiopians, not just from the devastated Tigray region, but from every region, who have witnessed and experienced cruelty at the hands of government forces.
Mohammed Abduro Nure is one such person. He was arrested on the 14th of November 2020 or (14/3/2013) according to the Ethiopian calendar, in the wake of gunshots in a place called Wosha Kebele in Adaba Woreda, West Arsi Zone of the Oromia region. Held without evidence, Nure sustained serious injuries to his left leg due to beatings from the police, leaving him unable to stand.
Two weeks after his arrest, he, along with other detainees, was taken to the headquarters of the regional police station in Shashamane in a car full of military equipment, including Avtomat Kalashnikovas, pistols, knives, spears, and other deadly weapons. Police recorded them on OBN (Oromo Broadcasting Network) Media, the only state media that broadcasts in Afaan Oromoo, predominantly spoken by the Oromo. The police said they had captured members of OLF-Shane, a military liberation front based in Oromia.
These tactics, which seek to condemn ordinary men like Mohammed as terrorists despite an absence of evidence, fit a campaign of terror fickle to the whims of security forces and a government seeking scapegoats.
After returning to Adaba Woreda, Mohammed and the other detainees still remained imprisoned without being brought to court.
A source who has requested anonymity released the following statement: “We vehemently asked the Court to release us if there is no evidence against us, or convict us if the court got adequate evidence to convict us, though the Court did not set free us despite the absence of any piece of evidence that proves the police’s allegation against us.”
It was only at this point that Mohammed finally heard what crimes the police suspected him of commiting: having connections with the Oromia Media Network (OMN), the Minnesota-based media network founded by Jawar Mohammed, who currently faces terrorism charges; having connections with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and shooting a police car in Adaba Woreda; calling a market strike; posting an OLF flag on social media; and, finally, leaking government secrets and posting them on social media.
Mohammed and his fellow detainees were told that if they continued to demand being released or taken to court, they would be killed or tortured, with nightly beatings used as a strategy to extract information.
All are crimes that relate intimately to Mohammad’s identity as Oromo, a practice of ethnic profiling that is deeply woven into Ethiopia’s history. Today, more than 4 months have passed since Mohammed was arrested, and he still waits to face the charges against him in court. He is still detained and has faced countless abuses; yet, he has not been convicted of the alleged crimes and it appears there is still no evidence to back up the allegations or official charges.
Detainment without charge, or indefinite detention, violates both national and international laws, as set out in Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 6 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights. The notorious use of indefinite detention in Ethiopia, as well as the brutal conditions detainees face have long been documented by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Widespread issues of torture, forced confessions, and deaths in custody were highlighted in a February 2021 report on prison conditions in Ethiopia published by ARC Foundation/Garden Court Chambers. A fact-finding mission conducted by the organizations alerted a further three specific areas for the report: the situation in detention for Oromos; the situation in detention for OLF members and perceived OLF members; and the situation in detention for perceived government opponents.
“Torturing detainees is also highly common in the police station we are currently detained at. Police take detainees out of the police station every night and bring them back to the police station after beating and torturing them,” said source
This reflects what Human Rights Watch have described as “abusive counterinsurgency operations in western and southern Oromia region” by government security forces that have resulted in extensive reports of mass arrests and detention, violence, and extrajudicial killings of ethnic Oromos. This occurring in parallel to the continued atrocities in the Tigray regions indicates the dire situation facing an ever growing number of Ethiopians.
Just as the shocking footage of the boys’ and young men’s lifeless bodies being discarded off a cliff reveals, the impunity with which security forces discard the rights and lives of Ethiopian citizens is ubiquitous.
While it may be too late for them, it is imperative that we continue to advocate for the lives of those like 75-year-old Dheekoo Jonjaa, Mohammed Abduro Nure, Awwal Ibrahim Qabatoo, Siraji Qasiim Gandaa, and thousands more whose cases remain unknown and unreported. That their stories are not forgotten, and their lives not forfeit.
OLLAA condemns the use of indefinite detention and all violence and torture by government security forces.
OLLAA unequivocally condemns extrajudicial killings and the brutal loss of life faced by Ethiopians.
OLLAA calls on the international community to continue mounting pressure on the Abiy Ahmed government to end the human rights abuses occurring throughout Ethiopia, not just in the Tigray region.
OLLAA joins Members of Parliament from Wollo in urging Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to allow independent investigation into all alleged killings, rape and torture taking place in many parts of Oromia, including in Adaba.