January 16, 2003

EPRDF POLICE TORTURE DOZENS OF DETAINED PRIESTS AND CIVILIANS

 Hundreds of people detained by the police for staging a peaceful demonstration at the Lideta Mariam church in Addis Abeba were taken to a police detention center outside of the city and tortured for days. The demonstration by priests and believers was caused by the arbitrary decision of the contested patriarch of the Tewahido Church of Ethiopia, Abune Paulos, to put his own choice as the administrator of the Lideta Mariam church.

 The detained were not brought before a court of law and witnesses have confirmed that may of them bore the physical signs of physical mistreatment. Actually, torturing prisoners is wide spread in the jails, prisons and detention centers of the EPRDF. In the central prison in Addis Abeba (the Kerchiele),prisoners are beaten up routinely. In the secret prisons of the EPRDF, where political dissidents are held in dark rooms with their legs chained to the walls, torture is also common. In the past, photos of torture victims have been published by the newspapers and no denial has been made by the EPRDF. As a guerrilla group, the ruling EPRDF was condemned for its torture of peasants and errant combatants.

 The mistreatment and torture of prisoners by the EPRDF should be condemned by the world at large and this violation of the rights of the people should not be tolerated at all.

Stop the torture of prisoners!!

SOCEPP