Time To Say Enough is Enough
Fasil Yenealem
June,19 2007May God, the Almighty be praised, for he has
pulled me out of the jaws of the Ethiopian hyena, for he has
allowed me to write this urgent call to rescue our dear
democratic leaders, journalists and civic society members who
have been languishing for almost two years in unspeakable harsh
prison conditions. I am not making this call because I am an
important figure. I making this call because I have a moral
responsibility as an Ethiopian citizen and I have first hand
information about the prison conditions these leaders are in.
I was one of the Kaliti “prisoners of conscience” until my
release on April 7, 2007. I have experienced the challenges of
passing each day in prison with no means of communication and
enjoyment; the challenges of listening to the insults of the
uncivilized watchmen pointing their guns at us 24/7; begging
them to take us to the so called health center, seeing our
family be ridiculed in front of us by the unruly guards during
visiting hours; the difficulty of adapting to the temperature of
the congested and corrugated iron cells, the stink of the
toilets during the hot days; the difficulty to control our
temper when hearing the voices of young Ethiopians arrested as
‘adegegna bozene’ (hooligans) begging to be executed rather than
being tortured every day.
I have seen with my own eyes “Gashe” Hailu (Eng. Hailu Shawel,
Chairman of the CUDP) struggling with death every night when his
sugar level rises and falls unexpectedly, or when he is unable
to read books for lack of eye treatment. I have seen him having
great difficulty walking due to problems with his leg resulting
from sleeping on a wet floor when he was first arrested. I have
seen Professor Mesfin struggling to walk upright, as a result of
the excruciating back pain he suffers from. I have seen Dr.
Yacob losing his eyesight fast; I have seen Dr. Befekadu
coughing every night. I have seen many more hardships that these
leaders are subjected to every day and night. Is it not, then,
my moral imperative to speak on behalf of these innocent victims
of Meles Zenawi’s brutality?
Well meaning Ethiopians may wonder why I was released? Some
may argue and then conclude that my release last April was a
good indication of the independence of the court. Yes, I agree
with them that the court released me and a few others on April
7, 2007. While I may understand their argument, I disagree with
their conclusion as to why I was set free after almost two
years. To be perfectly honest, I believe only God knows why I
was released. Although I am out of prison, I am not yet free:
The prosecutor has appealed the decision to the high court. My
organization has also been found guilty and the court has ruled
that I will be responsible for the penalty the court will impose
on the organization. More over the Editor in-chief of Addis Zena
Newspaper is still in prison.
Had the court released me because the prosecutors failed to
present hard evidences, I am absolutely certain that it would
have also released all the other prisoners. I can unequivocally
tell you that all the evidences brought to the court by the
prosecutor and used as the basis for handing a guilty verdict
are entirely fabricated and utterly frivolous. Some of the
fabricated documents presented were not even well prepared. In
two different letters you could find two different signatures
and titles signed and approved by the same person. Most of the
witnesses brought by the prosecutor could not even narrate what
they have been carefully coached to say. For us, it was like
watching a 24 hour drama, seeing a government producing false
witnesses to accuse its own people and these witnesses, in turn
unable to say properly what they have been told. We saw those
same false witnesses sweating nervously and sometimes confessing
the truth that they have been told to lie.
How can a video showing armed men shooting straight into the
eyebrows of young bare handed Ethiopians’ be brought as evidence
against innocent people, most of whom never pulled a trigger in
their life, to convict them as guilty? Who owns the guns?
The court knows that every thing the prosecutor was doing was
criminal, but it had no power to penalize the prosecutors for
bringing readymade witnesses and false evidences to accuse the
innocent. Had the court had power it would have disgraced the
prosecutors in public for distorting the noble ideas of law and
justice. It’s a well-known fact that all the evidences brought
against the defendants, would make the defendants free and the
prosecutors and the government guilty.
The decision of the court is the decision of Meles Zenawi.
More than once he has boldly declared in public, that the
defendants were guilty, and the court doesn’t have any choice,
but to accept the PM’s words. Who has the right to oppose or
over rule what Meles Zenawi says in Ethiopia?
The June 11th, 2007 guilty verdict on the innocent prisoners
is not only a shame for Meles, but it is also a shame for the
International Community which has been giving him all the
support he needed for the last 16 years. It is a shame for Blair
who made him a member of his African Commission; it is a shame
for Bush who gave him bullets and armored cars to use against
his own people, a shame for the African Union members who
considered him as a “new breed of African leaders.” After 16
years Meles’ supporters must realize that he came to power
undemocratically, rules undemocratically and will fall
undemocratically.
Who are these opposition party leaders in the other extreme
about whom I am talking about? I got the opportunity to study
them closely for more than a year .I shared the small cell with
CUD Chairman, Hailu Shawel, CUD Executive Council members Dr.
Hailu Araya, Dr Yacob Haile Mariam, Dr. Befekadu Degefe, Mr.
Gizachew Shiferaw, Dr. Tadyos Bogale, Mr. Biruck Kebede et al. I
had a close look at Eng. Hailu, who is widely accused of being a
hardliner and stubborn by the Meles regime and his international
supporters. Yes, he is stubborn on one thing --- the truth. He
will die for the truth. His lifelong motto is never compromising
on the truth. Nothing or no one will ever make him betray the
truth. Some may argue that his excessive obsession with truth,
in a world that begs men not to be that way, makes him an
inflexible and outdated politician for 21st century politics. If
that argument is true, the only thing I can say is, it is rather
the treacherous world all around us that has made him an out
dated politician. Truth and principle matter.
“Gashe” Hailu has an extremely sympathetic heart, he cries
like a baby when he watches movies of starving Ethiopians. He is
a democrat in the true sense of the word. His ambition, as he
always says, is not to be the PM of Ethiopia, but to establish a
huge NGO so that he can assist the poor in the streets. I have
never observed a quality that makes him an old fashioned
politician except his excessive love for the truth. For me even
in his 70s he is still a principled, very modern, and energetic
politician who has been misunderstood by his critics.
Nothing I could say in this short article will do justice to
Dr. Berhanu Nega, Prof. Mesfin WoldeMariam, Dr. Yacob
Hailemariam or Dr, Hailu Araya and others.. They are not only
the torch-bearers of democracy, they are democracies themselves.
Their daily music is democracy, respect for human rights and the
rule of law. And it is these democrats who are languishing in
prison under extremely harsh conditions and waiting to be
sentenced to death or life in prison. I can assure you that
those heroes will choose death over accepting any ultimatum that
does not conform with their belief---- democracy, respect for
human rights and the rule of law.
I am making this call not only to save the lives of these
innocent prisoners, but also to save the ideals of democracy
embodied in them and to save the hopes of millions of Ethiopians
who expressed their wishes in the historic election of May 15th
2005.
My fellow Ethiopians, let’s do the following simple things:
Tell ourselves that what we have done so far to get those heroes
freed is not enough Organize continuous protest movements
in your districts, cities and countries. I know how much Meles
is struggling to regain his lost image muddied by your historic
movements. The more you expose him in front of the International
Community, the more you erode his confidence and acceptance in
the International arena. Your peaceful protests will
bolster the confidence of the prisoners in Kaliti, they will
know that they have millions of followers behind them carrying
their ideals. I remember how delighted we were whenever we heard
that Ethiopians in this and that country held demonstrations
demanding for our release and for democratic governance in
Ethiopia Those types of news always increased our confidence and
eroded the confidence of our jailers.
I assure you that Meles will lose his remaining international
support through constant demonstrations that exposes his
tyrannical rule. His international backers will reach a point
when they can no more endure, his shame and their shame, for
supporting him. Don’t forget that Mobutu was a Western favorite.
But what happened finally when the sun set on his empire? How
about Mandela? Wasn’t he considered a terrorist by the West ?
What world politics teaches us is that “there are no
permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent
interests”. By the way, when I keep mentioning the role of the
international community, I am not saying that change comes only
through them. I sincerely believe that change comes only by the
struggle of the Ethiopian people. Our people want change, but it
is partly the international community that is standing in the
way of the immediate realization of our dream. That is why I am
calling on you to hammer that side of the nail.
Finally, I hope that you will start to organize yourselves
under your respective political parties and start today
overwhelming the cities of the world through constant
demonstrations. We will rescue our leaders from the jaws of the
Ethiopian hyena to lead that country in peace, unity, and
democracy. Only then will our exodus back be hastened.
Fasil Ayenalem, recently released from Kaliti prison is the
former Publisher of the now banned Addis Zena Newspaper. He can
be reached at fasilsim@gmail.com |