Amnesty worried over detainees

2006-02-01 12:00

Nairobi - Ethiopia had detained thousands of members of the country's Oromo ethnic group, a number of whom was being held incommunicado and may be at risk of torture, said a human rights group.

Amnesty International said widespread arrests of the Oromos in the southern Oromia region and elsewhere began during a crackdown on opposition leaders and sympathisers that started after political unrest last year.

The London-based group identified by name 11 Oromo students among the thousands of detainees about whom it said it was particularly concerned, as they had not been able to track them.

It said: "All those named above are detained incommunicado at a number of different locations, and are at risk of torture or ill-treatment."

Government fraud

Amnesty said the round-up of Oromos began on November 9, about a week after opposition protests against alleged government fraud in disputed May elections turned lethally violent in the capital and then spread to other towns.

The demonstrations in Oromia followed a call by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel group for protests against the Addis Ababa government.

Amnesty said: "Most of those taking part were secondary school students, some of them children under 18-years-old, but teachers, farmers, businesspeople and others have also been detained in connection with the demonstrations."

Brutality, mistreatment

It said: "Those detained have reportedly been accused of links with the OLF, although none of them has yet been charged", adding that while some had been released "the whereabouts of many ... are not known."

It called on Ethiopian authorities to either charge or release the detainees and investigate alleged brutality and mistreatment that it said had been reported against some.

Ethiopian officials could not immediately be reached to comment on the claims.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said earlier on Tuesday that Frezer Negash, who worked for the online Ethiopian Review, was arrested on Friday and was being held without charge in Addis Ababa.

Independent journalists

It said: "We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia", citing Ethiopian Review publisher Elias Kifle and two other sources for the information about her arrest.

The group said: "We call on Ethiopian authorities to release her immediately", adding that the arrest appeared to signal a tightening of a clampdown on opposition figures and independent journalists who were accused of fomenting a coup after the elections.

A group of 131 prominent government foes, independent journalists and aid workers, including nearly the entire leadership of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and five broadcasters with the US-funded Voice of America (VoA), now faced treason and other serious charges.

A dozen of Ethiopian journalists working overseas had been charged in absentia over the alleged coup plot.

- AFP