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07/17/20
COVID-19 to eliminate dissent
The new transitional government under Abiy Ahmed’s administration, ushered in what many believed would be a transformative government. However, that dream was short lived as the noble laureate turned into yet another dictator. When PM Abiy Ahmed came to power, he admitted that the country’s prison was a torture. He publicly asked for forgiveness about what has happened on behalf of the former regime.
Mr. Jawar Mohammed is a young dynamic Ethiopian-born American political activist and media mogul. Educated at the renowned Stanford University where he earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science and later his Masters in Human Rights at Columbia University. He is known for his relentless non-violent activism for the Oromo people.
He has more than 1.9 million Facebook followers. From 2016 to 2018, he used social media to organize protests that piled pressure on the former toxic government and play a big role in ushering Abiy Ahmed to power. Jawar is high-profile, well liked Oromo politician and prominent opposition leader.
Following the postponement of the election, Mr Jawar warned the Prime Minister that he would be an "illegitimate" prime minister once the term of the current parliament ended at the end of September 2020. The PM Abiy Ahmed who see Mr. Jawar as a potential rival, he set up Mr. Jawar Mohammed and Mr. Bekele Gerba and arrested them while they were on their way to funeral of recently assassinated a popular Oromo singer and activists Haacaaluu Hundessa.
After Mr. Jawar detained, his party saying that both his lawyer and family had been denied access to him, and that he had embarked on a hunger strike the firsts two days. Abiy’s administration came up with fabricated stories and accused Mr. Jawar Mohammed, his security personnel and entire OMN media journalists having a link to Haacaaluu’s murder, they closed the media headquarter office the following day. Through his attorney Jawar expressed a serious concern.
Ethiopia is a country where torture and impunity for torture, are well-entrenched problems throughout its detention center as well as inside prison. Human Rights Watch regularly receives reports of abusive interrogations countrywide using techniques such as detaining underground, severe beatings, torturing as well as poisoning political prisoners, similar to what Jail Ogden’s former prisoners describe.
The chance of killing detainees once got infected with Coronavirus can be deliberated by depriving them for medical attention. As recent breaking news indicates, one of Jawar’s guard was reported to be infected with coronavirus recently.
The unilateral and arbitrary arrests have brought onslaught of condemnation from Amnesty International and Human right watch. As far as Human Rights Watch is aware, there have been no reported instances of the federal government holding anyone accountable for torture, and prisoners’ complaints of torture in detention are routinely ignored by the courts. Human Right Personnel should closely follow up the human right violation in recent mass arrests.
Ethiopian Government’s Actions of Recent mass arrests in unsafe environment and torturing of innocent civilians or political Prisoners during Coronavirus pandemic outbreak and Infecting them with COVID-19 intentionally to kill them systematically is serious human rights violations Crime.
Written by:
Ayzak Mo
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