February 18, 2014 | Horn Affairs, BTimes
Ethiopian hijacker Hailemedhin Abera’s close friends described him to Horn Affairs as following:
Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn was born in 1983, now 31 years old.
He was born in in Zegie Island, which is found on Tana Lake, the source of Nile, in western Ethiopia.
Hailemedhin was raised in Bahirdar city, on the offshores of Lake Tana, at the center of city called “kebele zero arat”.
He attended school at Atse Sereke Dingle elementary school, then Bahirdar Secondary School in 2000/01.
Subsequently, he joined Addis Ababa University Architecture department, which he quit to join the state-monopoly Ethiopian Airlines.
Hailemedhin is described by his high school friends as a quiet and reclusive man who rarely enjoyed social gatherings.
He was raised by a devotee Orthodox Christians family. Both of his parents are alive and residents of Bahirdar city.
His mother is a house-wife while the father is widely-known in the city as being engaged in usury (lending money with high interest). However, the fact that he was not detained during a recent crackdown on usury triggered a rumor of having a cosy relationship with government officials among Bahirdar residents.
Most of our sources – acquainted with Hailemedhin – concurred that he was a man of good characters. He – as well as his seven brothers and sisters – are known in Bahirdar city as outstanding students. Two of his sisters are medical doctor and engineer.
Hailemedhin is not married but lives with his girlfriend in Addis Ababa – at an apartment nearby Imperial Hotel, in Addis Ababa. His girlfriend is a self-employed lady and running a small internet-cafe, according to one of his friends.
On February 17, 2014, Monday morning, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET702 was headed from Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa to Rome when the captain took a bathroom break. The first officer then locked himself inside the cockpit, reported the hijacking to airport transponders, and aimed his Boeing 767 toward Geneva. Reports indicate that the passengers were blissfully unaware of the situation until they touched down. They were heavily searched upon exiting the aircraft, after which the airline began efforts to get all 193 passengers – mostly Italian nationals – to their final destinations.
Geneva police told reporters that the co-pilot was requesting asylum in Geneva for fear of persecution in his native country, but the Ethiopian government released a statement saying that such action “flies in the face of Article 32 of the Ethiopian constitution, which guarantees the freedom of any citizen to leave the country at any time.”
A recording of the radio communications between Hailemedhin and officials at the Geneva airport was published by Matthew Keys (@matthewkeyslive) shortly after the incident. The sound byte has Hailemedhin trying to ensure a favorable reception in Switzerland before landing. “We are still waiting for asylum; you said you were going to give,” he says, while his interlocutor on the ground protests that he is unable to make that decision. The two calmly exchange updates on altitude and wind direction before the plane finally touches down. “I will be coming out via the window,” Hailemedhin radios from the tarmac, and the airport official responds with a hesitant “Roger.”
Speculations abound regarding what might have prompted the copilot to attempt such a brazen escape. Hailemehdin is not unique in seeking to exit his home country; the latest data from UNHCR found that in the first half of 2013, nearly 42,000 people sought asylum from Ethiopia. This could have something to do with with fear of persecution; Ethiopian security forces have been criticized for committing human rights abuses against anti-government activists and religious or ethnic minorities. Poverty is another issue, with at least one-fourth of the population living below the poverty line.
More insights into the hijacker’s past came from a Twitter user who claims to be Hailemedhin’s sister, who released the above photo of the hijacker. She says her younger brother goes by the nickname Tadlo, and she suspects he hijacked the flight under duress since he loved Ethiopia and abandoned a potential career in architecture in order to work for the state-owned airline.
She added that family was “in shock” was unable to immediately contact the hijacker.
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