Al Jazeera | Several Ethiopian opposition figures charged with ‘terrorism’ last year began a hunger strike in late January,

Concerns are growing about the health of several imprisoned Ethiopian opposition figures who launched a hunger strike some two weeks ago, with protests erupting in Oromia to demand the release of some of the region’s most prominent political leaders.

Senior Oromo Federal Congress (OFC) members Bekele Gerba and Jawar Mohammed are among some 20 people facing charges ranging from “terrorism” to illegal possession of firearms in connection with the unrest that followed the murder of a popular Oromo musician last year.

Bekele, Jawar and others began the food strike in late January in response to reports of arrests and mistreatment of supporters and family members who attend their courthouse hearings, according to their legal team.

“Four of them have already collapsed and have been taken to hospital,” Ibsa Gemeda, one of the defendants’ lawyers, told Al Jazeera. “The others are unable to have conversations or move around. Some of them have serious underlying health issues and we are worried that this could result in their deaths.”

Jawar himself has been extremely weakened by the strike he launched on January 27 and has since developed unspecified kidney problems, according to his lawyer.

.@EthioHRC visited Kaliti Correctional Facility & Kilinto Prison to monitor the situation of Jawar Mohammed & others who have remained on hunger strike since January 27, and the treatment of Colonel Gemechu Ayana & Tilahun Yemi.

Our statement below: pic.twitter.com/qW6Sw93PCA

— Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (@EthioHRC) February 5, 2021

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) last week said it had visited the defendants and confirmed they were on hunger strike.

“Very close supervision is required to prevent any grave threat to their health and life,” Daniel Bekele, EHRC chief commissioner, said in a statement, adding that “reasonably justified demands of the prisoners must be addressed”.

A court hearing was cancelled last week due to the defendants being too weak to attend. It came as the youth took to the streets of several cities including Ambo and Dire Dawa to protest against the continued detention of the Oromo leaders, with a number of injuries and at least one death reported.

“We are asking for the releases of our political leaders,” Yeroon Tolassa, a student activist who attended last week’s protests, told Al Jazeera from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. “Our political leaders and activists are jailed in the thousands.”

It was on the back of popular uprisings that first ignited among the ethnic Oromo, who constitute about a third of Ethiopia’s 112 million people, that Abiy Ahmed ascended to the Ethiopian premiership in April 2018. Promising to rid the state of its repressive nature, Abiy – Ethiopia’s first Oromo prime minister – ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners, promised free and fair elections and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his landmark restoration of ties with neighbouring Eritrea, with whom Ethiopia fought a bloody border war between 1998 and 2000.

But for many Oromos, the initial enthusiasm has all but dissipated. Abiy’s opponents accuse him of growing authoritarian tendencies, while rights groups have expressed serious concerns over the detention of dozens of opposition members and journalists and the shutdown of independent media outlets.

Jawar, a founder of the United States-based Oromia Media Network, was an ally of Abiy and played a key role in coordinating the protests that catapulted him to power, before becoming a public critic of his administration. He and the others on hunger strike are accused of inciting the wave of violence that followed the June 29, 2020 murder of beloved singer-songwriter Hachalu Hundessa and left hundreds dead.

In August, a month before charges were announced, Human Rights Watch said the detentions and investigations were marred “by serious due process violations” while several months and multiple court hearings later, prosecutors have yet to provide evidence linking the defendants to the alleged crimes.

“The charges against them are politically motivated,” said Ibsa. “The case is motivated by the government’s desire to remove Jawar and others from the political realm, and muzzle opposition in the Oromia state.”

Government officials have previously dismissed such claims, while authorities maintain the evidence will be presented in due time.

“Criminal charges won’t be issued without evidence proving involving in a crime,” Awel Sultan, communications head at the Ethiopian attorney general’s office, told Al Jazeera. “Prosecutors aren’t to speak of the evidence while the court entertains the case. When the court begins hearing witnesses, you’ll begin to understand the nature of the evidence implicating them.”

Highly anticipated general elections scheduled for last year have been postponed until June 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The OFC wields considerable influence across Oromia and was expected to provide Abiy’s governing Prosperity Party with its stiffest challenge at the polls.

Free elections were long portrayed as the end goal of a government that had promised structural changes that would widen the political space. After the uprisings of 2015-16 eventually led former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to resign in February 2018, Abiy sealed the position on an interim basis, promising to oversee the transition to an all-encompassing democracy.

Three years later, there are fears the upcoming polls would mirror those of the past quarter-century, none of which was deemed free and fair by international standards. Over the course of last year, there have been reports of mass arrests of opposition party supporters, while parties have also been prohibited from holding rallies. In addition to key candidates being jailed, analysts say the fact that elections are not expected to be held in the war-hit Tigray region because of security fears, fuels legitimacy doubts.

“The systemic shuttering of the political opposition by arresting candidates, supporters and prohibiting rallies, shows us that the conditions for free and fair democratic elections have not been met,” Awol Allo, lecturer in law at Keele University in the United Kingdom, told Al Jazeera. “The ruling party knows that its ideology doesn’t appeal to the Oromo masses. The only way it could secure victory at the polls would be by eliminating any formidable opposition presence.”

The country’s National Electoral Board has acknowledged the issue of jailed politicians, but the board’s Chairwoman Birtukan Mideksa recently hinted that it would not be able to intervene on behalf of the jailed hunger strikers.

“We are aware that political candidates have been arrested. We’ve been able to succeed in convincing authorities to free some of them,” Birtukan said at a virtual Q&A session with social media users last week. “But we have mandate limitations. We cannot intervene on behalf of candidates accused of murder, inciting violence and whose cases are in the courts.”

With next court appearances scheduled for March 1, barring additional delays, the case has taken a toll on family members of the detainees, including Arfasse Gemeda, wife of Jawar and a human rights advocate.

“It’s been very difficult being physically far away,” she told Al Jazeera from the US, where she resides. “Especially during this hunger strike. As the days go on, I’m afraid of what I’m going to hear when I answer the phone or check Facebook. It’s a constant state of trauma,” she added.

“Although we are not physically in jail, our minds are.”

ADDIS ABABA: SITUATION OF PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has deployed a monitoring mission to Kaliti Correctional Facility and Kilinto Prison to monitor the situation of defendants in Jawar Mohammed et al case, who have remained on hunger strike since January 27, 2021, and other prisoners. The Commission’s team visited the said prisons on February 2, 2021 to investigate the current situation of the prisoners on hunger strike and the treatment of Colonel Gemechu Ayana and Tilahun Yemi. EHRC’s monitoring team also talked with the prison administration of both facilities and the prisoners.

During the Commission’s visit to Kaliti Correctional Facility on February 2, 2021, Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba, Hamza Adane (Borena) and Shemsedin Taha had been on hunger strike since January 27, 2021. The prisoners informed EHRC that the purpose thereof is to “protest the government’s suppression and violation of rights of people and their party; to ask for a stop to the harassment and ill treatment of Colonel Gemechu Ayana and to demand that the mistreatment and imprisonment of the visitors and relatives who attend their hearings and visit them in prison.”

The Kaliti Correctional Facility administration on its part told EHRC that “most of the demands listed as reasons for the hunger strike are beyond the remit of the administration.” Adding that the administration does not mistreat the prisoners’ visitors, it explained that two of the prisoners on hunger strike are receiving close medical supervision because they have a prior health condition which requires regular medication. The Commission’s team was able to confirm the provision of said medical monitoring.

EHRC has also visited Colonel Gemechu Ayana and Tilahun Yemi, the safety and security of both of whom was said to be in danger in relation with a video footage filmed from inside prison and circulated on social media. Both of the prisoners are in good health and have suffered no bodily injury. However, Colonel Gemechu Ayana expressed his dismay to the Commission with regards to the harassment he has suffered by being transferred to various holding areas (zones) several times. He also said that he was moved from the holding area (zone) he was in before “to another one that puts his safety at risk”.

The prison administration says that prisoners are regularly moved from one holding area (zone) to another and that there are other prisoners in the same area (zone) as Colonel Gemechu. During the visit, the Commission found one prisoner who had indicated being moved to the area (zone) for breaking prison rules.
Kaliti Prison Administration was preparing to move Colonel Gemechu Ayana to another holding area following EHRC’s recommendations in this regard, when the Federal High Court at a hearing on February 3, 2021, ordered for the prisoner to be returned to Kilinto noting that the prisoner’s transfer to Kaliti did not follow due process. The Commission has confirmed the transfer by visiting the prisoner on February 4, 2021.

EHRC has also investigated the treatment of Tilahun Yemi, detained on suspicion of assassinating musician Hachalu Hundessa. The prisoner is in good health and has told the Commission that he has not been beaten or otherwise suffered any rights violations in Kilinto. However, he told the Commission that he was mistreated during his detention in a police station.

With regards to the prisoners in Kaliti Correctional Facility who are on a hunger strike, EHRC Chief Commissioner Daniel Bekele said that “very close supervision is required to prevent any grave threat to their health and life and that reasonably justified demands of the prisoners must be addressed.” He added that “during visits to prisons or attending court hearings visitors must be treated properly.”