ABERA YEMANEAB left Washington DC where he had been living for years as a political exile to travel to Addis Abeba to take part in a Peace and Reconciliation Committee that was to be held in the Ghion Hotel. Abera was the Foreign Relations head of the opposition Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic Forces (COEDF).

On his arrival in the Ethiopian capital on December 16/1993, Abera and eight other delegates were arrested at the airport and jailed. While the others were released (after two months for most) Abera was detained on charges of having taken part in he infamous Red Terror of the former regime, a terror in which the ruling group (the TPLF) had taken part in too. A court revoked the legality of the detention in April 1994 and ordered that Abera be released but the police ignored the order of the court and took him back to prison. He has been held since, first in the central Kerchiele prison and of late in the horrible Kaliti prison. The EPRDF orchestrated more than 15 charges against Abera but has been unable to bring proof to back even one of its allegations and is now keeping Abera by arrogantly continuing with the denial of due process. The recent court appearance of Abera led to the postponement of the case to January 2005 because "one judge was sick".

It is sad to note that Amnesty International and the local Human Rights Council have went along with the allegations of the ruling EPRDF and denied Abera the status of a prisoner of conscience. Abera is in actual fact a political prisoner, illegally kept behind bars because of his peaceful political opposition to the rule of the EPRDF. This si why SOCEPP continues to call for his immediate and unconditional release.

SOCEPP