The following is a statement of the Qeerroo National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (Qeerroo Bilisummaa) on the continued arrests and kangaroo court convictions of Oromo students from various zones of Oromia.
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Intensifying Mass Arrests, Tortures and Killings Will Only Inflame Struggle for Freedom
Statement of Qeerroo Bilisummaa on Continued Arrests and Convictions of Oromo Students from Various Zones of Oromia
November 16, 2014
It is to be recalled that tens of thousands of Oromo nationals in general, and Oromo students in particular, have been arrested and severely tortured by the TPLF-led Ethiopian regime over the last few months in connection to the series of Oromo students protests – which broke out in large scale and spread out throughout Oromia beginning the month of April 2014. These protests, organized and led by the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (aka Qeerroo Bilisummaa), are just one chapter in the series of continued struggle of the Oromo nation for freedom, democracy and justice over the last 23 or so years. Hundreds have been gunned down by live bullets by the so called Agazi troops of the regime in the months of April and May 2014. In addition to those who have been shot and killed during the protests, many have lost their lives in prison cells unable to stand the brutal tortures. Many others have simply disappeared. Qeerroo Bilisummaa believes that those who disappeared have been killed and their bodies hidden – a practice repeatedly perpetrated on Oromo prisoners by this regime.
On July 7, 2014, Qeerroo Bilisummaa compiled a list of 61 Oromos killed and 903 others rounded up and thrown into jail during the April/May Oromo students protests of universities, colleges, high schools, middle schools and other educational institutions in Oromia. Our evidence indicates that all those who have been arrested have undergone through intense interrogations which involved severe and brutal tortures. Many have lost their lives due to the severe tortures. For example, a 2nd year Computer Science Oromo student of Haramaya University, Aslan (Nuradin) Hasan, was killed as a result of extended tortures in prison on June 4, 2014. On the same day, a 10th grade student, Dawit Wakjira, was arrested and beaten to death in Anfillo district, Qellem Wollega zone. Again on the same day, a young high school teacher, Magarsa Abdissa, was beaten and killed in Gulliso Prison, West Wollega zone. The fact that these three young Oromos are known and reported to have been beaten to death on the same day, from different parts of Oromia, is a testimony that prisons in the empire are not safe places under this regime. It has to be noted that many other killings that had occurred in the prison cells remained hidden as it is extremely difficult and risky to compile reports of such brutal killings under tight security machinery of the regime.
The arrests and tortures have continued non-stop. More and more are being arrested before those who are in jails are released or brought to fair trials. Many of those who survived the tortures will remain incarcerated, without any charge, until they confess the accusations brought against them. On many other prisoners, concocted charges and false witnesses have been prepared and they are brought to the kangaroo courts of the regime to pass a long-time sentences on them so as to legitimize their prison terms. Everybody who pays close attention to how the judicial system of the regime operates knows for sure that the so called “court” of the regime is just a place where a fictitious drama is performed. Qeerroo Bilisummaabelieves no justice is expected from the so called “court” of the current Ethiopian regime at any level.
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