May 24, 2002

RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

The EPRDF has finally succumbed to intense local and international pressure and has released from prison Dr. Taye Woldesemayat, the chairman of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association. Dr. Taye was railroaded through the State controlled court and illegally kept behind bars for some six years.

 SOCEPP, which had consistently called for the release of the ETA Chairman, joins all those who rejoice at Dr. Taye's release but takes the occasion to remind all human rights organizations and peace loving forces that the EPRDF has still behind bars, in dungeons, secret prisons and labor camps some 15,000 political prisoners. The campaign to secure their release must continue without let up. In the Kerchiele central prison where Dr. Taye was kept, there are scores and scores of political prisoners including Abera Yemanab and Fitawrari Mekonen Dori. Many leading members and cadres of the ruling front itself (TPLF/EPRDF) are also held in the same prison on alleged charges of corruption used to cover up political persecution. All over the country, political dissidents, supporters and sympathizers of opposition group, religious leaders, etc are jailed in deplorable conditions in prisons and labor camps like the ones in Zwai and Shoa Robit. Thousands are in prison without ever being brought before a court of law. Dozens of people who had been detained since 1991 and who have disappeared remain unaccounted for. Journalists are also constant "guests" of the various prisons.

In other words, the campaign to secure the release of ALL political prisoners in Ethiopia has a long way to go. The release of Dr. Taye shows that the EPRDF can be pressurized by a concerted and world-wide campaign. Let the campaign to have political prisoners released intensify.

SOCEPP