The story of Rahima Ganna:
After the assassination of iconic musician activist Hacaaluu Hundessa, many took to the streets of Ethiopia to protest his murder. Rahima Ganna, a resilient mother of three, was among the crowd voicing her pain, a pain that felt all too familiar. The Administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had broadly claimed that the country was on the brink of better days; but in fact, his propaganda has divided the country and has caused many citizens to lose their lives, security and freedom. The murder of Hacaaluu Hundessa was the beginning of a snowball effect of events that displayed the PM’s agenda to silence the Oromo people. This silencing is being felt by Ganna and her family, whose lives will never be the same.
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As Ganna and her husband peacefully protested Hacaaluu Hundessa’s assassination, the police began to clear the streets by unlawfully arresting anyone in sight. Unfortunately, Ganna and her husband were among those arrested and were separated at the Dheeraa Detention Center. Ganna was brutally beaten and tortured while being kept from her family; thus, leaving her oldest daughter, 15, to be the caretaker of her 12-and 6-year-old siblings. Ganna comes from a small family with minimal resources leaving her oldest daughter to bear the responsibilities of head of house hold.
Recently the body of a young girl who was brutally beaten and left for dead has been identified as Ganna’s oldest daughter. According to locals, the Oromia Special Forces are suspected to have committed the brutal murder. Devastated, Ganna was denied the ability to attend her daughter’s funeral and was left to grieve her beloved child in jail. She was left in a predicament no mother could prepare for because there was no safe haven for her remaining children. On October 29, 2020, the Oromia Supreme Court sentenced her 2 younger children to be detained with her in Dheeraa Detention Center. Now Ganna and her children are serving a seemingly never-ending sentence under a corrupt government, courts system, and police force. A nightmare no mother should ever have to bear.
This is the horrific reality of Rahima Ganna.
“Humans of Oromia are being brutally beaten, raped, murdered and held in detention centers for just simply being Oromo. Follow us as we take you on a journey through their untold horror stories.”
Written by Nadiya Boru