Numerous sources, including OMN, Bultum Broadcasting Services and BBC Afaan Oromoo, have reported that Hundaol Begna was extrajudicially executed by Ethiopian security forces in June after speaking with the victim’s brother, Firaol Begna.
On the evening of Friday, June 17, 2022, Hundaol Begna left home to have tea with his friends at a cafe near Rift Valley University after a day of studying. . While they were waiting for their tea to arrive,government forces opened fire on them. Hundaol and his other three friends, whose names have not yet been identified, were killed. Reports indicate that the security forces then covered Hundaol’s body with plastic and transported him to the hospital. They refused to turn Hundaol’s body over to his family, instead leaving the body in hospital custody. At long last, Hundaol’s family was allowed to bury him three days later.
Hundaol Begna was a student who lived in Nekemte town, in the East Wollega zone, and the younger brother of Lemi Begna, a leader of the Oromo Liberation Front, who has been imprisoned for the past two years. According to his neighbors, prior to this incident, his family had faced constant harassment and attacks from government forces after Lemi Begna was imprisoned. At one point, government forces arrested Hundaol’s mother and sister and burned down their home. Hundaol’s sister, Sara Begna, is still in prison. Hundaol had also been jailed many times before his death, and his family ultimately made the decision to send him to Nekemte town in order to protect him from further persecution.
International Law
In 1998, Ethiopia ratified the African Charter of Humans, which gives a binding effect to this regional convention for the State. The binding effect is important, as Article 4 of this Charter provides that “Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.” Arbitrary or extrajudicial executions involve the deliberate killing of individuals outside of any legal framework, which was indeed the case here. Hundaol Begna was deprived of his right to life when government forces shot him without arrest nor a fair trial, killing him right away regardless of his rights.
Furthermore, Article 5 of the same Charter recognizes the right to human dignity, as “Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being”. This includes, according to international doctrine, that the right to human dignity does not end with death. Thus, by forbidding the family access to their son’s body for three days, this right was curtailed.