JANUARY 4/2007

DENOUNCE THE ILLEGAL IMPRISONMENT OF ABERA YEMANEAB

ABERA YEMAEAB, prisoner of conscience jailed since 1993 till 2005 and then  released and rearrested, has been condemend for 25 years of imprisonment.He has already done twelve, detained frrom the Bole airport in Addis Ababa when he arrived for a Peace and Reconciliation Conference in December 1993.

 The illegal detention and the railroading of Abera had been condemned by SOCEPP and other human rights organizations though some like Amnesty International chose to believe the repressive Meles regime and to ignore his illegal detention. Abera was the foreign relations head of the opposition Coalition of Ethiopian Democrati Forces and his detention was a political act of revenge on the part of the Meles Zenawi regime. In Ethiopia, the judiciary is under the control of the ruling party/TPLF-EPRDF/ whch is controlled by Meles Zenawi and his few close colleagues. Despite this, a court ordered the immediate release of Abera in April 1994 but the authorities ignored the court order and, obeying a direct order from prime minister Meles, they took Abera to the Kerchiele prison. After twelve years and a failed court process he was again released by a court which senteced him to ten years impriosnment while he had already done twelve. He was released but ordered not to leave the country to see his family in Washington DC. Now, he has been condemned for a 25 years prison term and has been taken to Kaliti.

 The case of Abera Yemaneab is an example of the travesty of jsutice that has become the feature of the Meles Zenawi regime. He is in prison not for any crime he is alleged to have committed during the Red Terror but for opposing the rule of the Meles Zenawi regime.

 All human rights organizations should vigorously condemn this illegal action taken against Abera Yemaneab. SOCEPP calls for his immediate release and for an end to the travesty of justice that is going on in Ethiopia on a daily basis.

SOCEPP