Re: Justice in the Horn and recent imprisonment of Birtukan Medeqsa Deme
Comments from Ethioforum.
What would Zegeye (The slow man) say about this?
Dr. Belai, you are one of rare Ethiopians who have shown us the directions when we got lost and continue to do so when going gets tough while people like Wondimu Mekonnen and Tolosa Wakene run away when they couldn't stand the heat for they didn't have thick that could have helped them get through.
Unfortunately, there are people like Zegeye who are residual products of intermingled relationships of different people who are elated by the arrest of Bertukan who seemingly possesses a Divine like political power in mobilizing the people to revolt against the regime that Zegeye is dying of its love.
Demissie Assegid
From: Belai FM Habte-Jesus
To: EthioForum Mailing List
Sent: Friday, 9 January, 2009 10:10:49
Subject: [EthioForum] - Let us feed Birtukan First and then talk about justice and struggle later!
Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and friends of Africa/Ethiopia:
The Bloomberg News is reporting a very dire situation in Kaliti/Akaki Prison. I wondered what the Ethiopian Constitution and Law (Fitha-bher and Fitha-Negest Say on a State Prisoner going to die of Hunger Strike?
Are doctors allowed? Is Feeding tube allowed?
Can they bail out and recover at home? Can we learn from Bernstein Mad doff who is out on Bail after robbing the world of $50 Billion Dollars?
Is Bertukan Mideqsa Deme more dangerous than Bernstein Maddoff of $50 Billion Robbery but staying at home? Is this a fair world where the real criminal stays at home and the lady who misunderstood or has different understanding of her pardon goes to jail? What is taking place in our beloved home region?
When known criminals and terrorist sympathizers are sitting in Parliament and making all sorts of collaborative activities with known terrorists are paid by the state to create havoc, a lady who has proven that she will only work under the constitution in a peaceful manner is going to jail. Remember Birhanu Bonga who declared war and terror is free teaching terror in Pennsylvania?
The blessed Ethiopian government should get him extracted to his cell in Kaliti, but that will not happen as he perhaps has American Passport and still expects to be a Prime Minister for Ethiopia or a Mayor for Mercato?
How can we address discrepancy of human right and legal system across the world.
Just imagine for Bertukan's daughter to see her mother die in Jail of hunger strike? What do these Elders who negotiated the deal do when one of their negotiator dies in Prison.
What is the consciousness of Ethiopians to be like after letting the only Woman Political Leader die in jail of hunger for discrepancies in understanding of her Pardon?
What happened to common sense? Wasn’t Classical Ethiopia known for its justice as testified by Homer, the Prophet Mohammad and early noble people of the classical world?
What happened to the Revolutionary Democrats who went to the Bush allegedly to bring justice to all! What went wrong?
The constitution is clear that you cannot bring to Justice the same person twice for the same alleged crime. The constitution also demands that no one should ever be put to jail unless he or she is read their alleged crime and are represented by lawyer and the Judge makes pronouncements.
What is the role of the Pardon Board, how can it meet in three days and put Ms Birtukan to jail when they have 20 days to examine the case. It just does not make sense.
I cannot imagine we should keep quiet and let Bertukan Die. Where is Professor Isaac and Pastor Daniel and President Girma in all these?
I just wonder when we will see fairness and justice to women in Ethiopia.
The frustration and agony of my people continues, and when will it end?
Let common sense Prevail and feed Birtukan
I trust people with commonsense and compassion will stand up and request Ms Medqsa to feed and the Prison Guards and Justice System to give her time to recover!
Dr B
www.eastafricaforum.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aJYFznvqKsq4&refer=africa
Bloomberg
January 8, 2009
Jailed Ethiopian Opposition Leader Mideksa on Hunger Strike
Jason McLure
Ethiopia’s leading opposition politician is in her 10th day of a hunger strike after she was jailed for life on Dec. 29 following a dispute with the government, according to her mother.
Birtukan Mideksa, 34, has been taking only juice and water and is being held in solitary confinement in a windowless 3-meter by 4-meter (10-foot by 13-foot) cell in Ethiopia’s Kaliti prison, said her mother, Almaz Gebregziabhere, who visited her in prison yesterday.
“I didn’t recognize her because of how she’s changed,” said Gebregziabhere, 72, in an interview today at her home in Addis Ababa. “I begged her for the sake of her daughter to eat, but she didn’t.”
Prison officials have banned all visitors except Gebregziabhere and Mideksa’s 3-year-old daughter, Halle, from visiting her, Gebregziabhere said.
Gebregziabhere, speaking in Amharic through a translator, said the family had been unable to hire a lawyer for Mideksa because those contacted on her behalf have turned her down as a client, fearing government reprisals.
Mideksa, a leader of the now-dissolved Coalition for Unity and Democracy party, was first jailed after Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, in which the CUD claimed victory. She and dozens of other opposition leaders were sentenced to life in prison, though they were released in 2007 after a pardon agreement with the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
She was re-arrested Dec. 29 after she rejected government demands that she make a public statement saying she had formally requested the original pardon.
‘Humane Condition’
Bereket Simon, an adviser to Zenawi, said he wasn’t aware of Mideksa’s fast.
“We have a prison system whereby we hold prisoners in a humane condition,” Simon said. “This is a case where she has said that she didn’t ask for pardon and the decision of the judiciary is being applied. At this point, I don’t think it requires intervention by lawyers.”
Simon also said the government wasn’t interested in potential mediation efforts by the independent group that negotiated Mideksa’s initial release.
Following their release in 2007, some former CUD leaders chose exile in the U.S. or U.K. Mideksa stayed in Ethiopia and formed a new party that planned to contest the 2010 elections.
“Look what has happened to her,” said Berhanu Nega, who along with Mideksa led the CUD movement in 2005, in a phone interview from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The government “will never allow any peaceful transition in that country.”
Call to Struggle
Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005 before his imprisonment, has called for armed struggle to oust Zenawi. Nega left Ethiopia after his release from prison in 2007 to teach at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.
His new movement, Ginbot 7, has formed an underground network inside Ethiopia with the goal of overthrowing Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, Nega said.
The U.S., which views Ethiopia as a key ally in the fight against terrorism, offered a rare rebuke to Zenawi’s government following Mideksa’s arrest, warning Ethiopia to avoid steps that appear to “criminalize dissent.”
Government opponents accused the state of rigging the May 2005 poll, sparking protests in Addis Ababa. A judicial inquiry after the election concluded that government security forces had killed 193 opposition supporters in the unrest.
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc. 4 Peace & Prosperity
Win-win synergestic Partnership 4P&P-focusing on 5Es: Education+Energy+Ecology+Economy+Enterprises
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; Globalbelai@yahoo.com
C: 703.933.8737; F: 703.531.0545
--- On Thu, 1/8/09, Awde Ethiopia
From: Awde Ethiopia
Subject: We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees!! - Franklin D. Roosevelt
To: "globalbelai"
Date: Thursday, January 8, 2009, 7:30 PM
Dear globalbelai,
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees"
Here is an Amharic article based on this wonderful quote.
( http://www.abugidainfo.com/amharic/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/birtukan_affair.pdf )
Stand up against Injustice and Zenawi's Arrogance!
globalbelai, Say It Loud - I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees!!
EDITORS.
'Yes We Can ; Yes We Will'
--
Email us @ awdethiopia@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment