The New Wave of Mass Arrest Continues On

The New Wave of Mass Arrest Continues On

Oromo Human Right and Relief Organization remind its readers of its last press release on the new wave of arrest of prominent Oromos just few days a go, on 3rd of November 2008. As of our freshest information the wave continues with no boundary and discrimination. The following are some among those who were abducted from their homes and work places in Addis Ababa on November 4 and 5, 2008 by the Ethiopian government security forces:

1. Mrs. Asaadaa Imaanaa
2. Mrs. Caaltuu Taakkalaa
3. Mrs. Urgee Abbabaa
4. Mrs. Dirribee (Boontuu) Ittaanaa.

These are wives and mothers whose family responsibility would jeopardize many lives in their absence. Particularly, Mrs Urgee Abbabaa is reported to have been arrested with all her family: her brother Darguu, her husband Girmaa and more shockingly, with her three year old child. It is clear that the above named women and many others would certainly be tortured and brutalized by the inhuman TPLF forces as this is the norm in Ethiopian detention centers.

We also received a report that Mr. Wabe Hajji, a lawyer at commercial bank and a father of three children, has been taken from his work place to one of the brutal detention center of the regime. The report added that his home was extensively searched and his properties confiscated by the security forces with no judicial order.

The arrest is indiscriminate. It even included high school students. Accordingly, the following high school students in the western Shewa, Ambo town, have been abducted by the regime’s security forces:

1. Shuumii Daandanaa
2. Baayisaa Hinseenee
3. Jaarraa Eebbisaa and many others whose name are not yet disclosed.

According to the report we are receiving, the arrest is an all out action of the Ethiopian regime against what it calls OLF supporters. Therefore, the numbers of arrests are very much higher than the enumerated one in our press releases.

OMRHO express its deepest worry about the fate of the arrested. It pleads that all international human right organization and all committed democratic governments to use all their capacities in curbing the desperate inhuman actions of the Ethiopian regime.