Qeerroo: Mass Arrests, Tortures & Killings Will Inflame Oromo Freedom Struggle
Posted: Sadaasa/November 18, 2014 · Finfinne Tribune | Gadaa.com | Comments
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 Bilisummaa believes no justice is expected from the so called “court” of the current Ethiopian regime at any level.
Fear of Torture, HRLHA Press Release
November 17, 2014 (qeerroo) — 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 a series of Oromo student 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 incident in a 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 torture. Many others have simply disappeared. Qeerroo Bilisummaa believes that those who disappeared have been killed and their bodies hidden – a practice repeatedly perpetrated on the Oromo prisoners by this regime.
November 13, 2014 (Human Rights Horn of Afrique) — The 
ሃገራችንና ወገኖቻችን ለኢኮኖሚና ማሕበራዊ ችግሮች ከመጋለጥ አልፈው አደገኛ አጣብቂኝ ውስጥ ናቸው ፡፡ ለሕዝቡና ለሀገሪቱ ጥቅም የሚቆም ብቃት ያለው አስተዳደር የለም፡፡ ህግ አለ ህገ መንግስት አለ ቢባልም ተገቢ ያልሆኑና ከሕገ መንግሥቱ ጋር የሚቃረኑ አፋኝ፣ አስደንጋጭ እና ኢሰብአዊ ሕጐችና ደንቦች በተከታታይ ይወጣሉ፡፡ እነኚህም ሕዝቡን በተደራራቢነት እያስጨነቁት ይገኛሉ፡፡ ህጐችና ደንቦች ሲወጡ ሕዝብ መወያየትና መምከር ሲገባው ውይይት ሳይደረግባቸው በዘፈቀደ እና ባልሰለጠኑ የመንግስት ካድሬዎች ተግባራዊ ሲሆኑ ይታያል፡፡
ቀደም ብሎ በመሰረቱት ክሶች ደልዴሳ ዋቆ ጃርሶ፥ ገልገሎ ጉዮ ቦሩ እና ዋርዮ ጣጤሳ ጉዮ የተባሉ ግለሰቦች የኦነግ አባል በመሆናቸው ‘የሽብርተኝነት ድርጊቶችን’ ሲፈፅሙ ይዣቸዋለሁ’ በማለት የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት ሕጉን በመጥቀስ ክስ መስርቷል። በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ የፌደራል ዓቃቢ ሕግ ባቀረበው ‘የሽብር ወንጀል’ ክስ የድሬዳዋ ዩኒቨርስቲ ተማሪዎች የነበሩት አብዲ ከማል የሱፍና ቶፊቅ ረሽድ ዩያ ‘የአሸባሪው’ ድርጅት የኦነግ አባላት በመሆን የሽብር ተግባራትን ልትፈፅሙ ስትሉ ተይዛችኋል’ ተብለው የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት ሕጉ አንቀፅ ተጠቅሶባቸው ክሳቸውን በማረፊያ ቤት ሆነው እየተከታተሉ ይገኛሉ። በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ ባለፈው አመት በኦሮሚያ ክልል በነበረው የመብት ጥያቄና በተፈጠረው የወያኔ ጭፍጨፋ ምክንያት ከተለያዩ የክልሉ ዩኒቨርስቲዎች (ከሀሮማያ፣ ከጅማ፣ ከወለጋ… ዩኒቨርስቲዎች) የተያዙ ተማሪዎች እንዲሁም ከተለያዩ የክልሉ አካባቢዎች (ከወለጋ፣ ከሞያሌ ወ.ዘ.ተ.)ተይዘው የታሰሩ ዜጎች በኦነግነት ተጠርጥረው በፌደራል የወንጀል ምርመራ ዘርፍ (ማዕከላዊ) የሚገኙ ሲሆን ክስ ሳይመሰረትባቸው ለበርካታ ወራት ያህል በወንጀል ምርመራ ዘርፍ ‘ማረፊያ ቤት’ውስጥ ይገኙ ነበር።
ታዲያ ቃል በቃል ከምዕራቡ ዓለም የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት ሕጎች ‘የተገለበጠው’ የኢትዮጵያ የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት ሕግ እንዴት ቢሰራ ነው ሁሉንም የሕይወትና የኑሮ መስመሮች ‘በሽብርተኝነት’ ሊፈርጅ የቻለው? ወያኔ የሚጻረረውንና ለህልውናው አስጊ መስሎ የታየውን ማንኛውንም ግለሰብ ይሁን ድርጅት በተለይ ጋዜጠኞችንና የተቃዋሚ ድርጅት መሪዎችን፣ አባላትና ደጋፊዎችን ማሰርና ማሰቃየት ሲፈልግ ስማቸውን ለማጉደፍ የሚጠቀምበት የተለመደ ተልካሻ ስልት እንዲህ በማለት ነው፣ “ጋዜጠኝነትን እና የፖለቲካ ድርጅትን ሽፋን በማድረግ የሀገሪቱንና የሕዝቦቿን ሰላም ለማደፍረስ ከሚያስቡና ከሚፈልጉ ‘ሀይላት’ ጋር ግንኙነት በማድረግ የተለያዩ የሽብር ተግባራትን ለመፈጸም ሲንቀሳቀሱ በቁጥጥር ስር አውለናቸዋል።“ ይህ አይነት መሰረት የሌለው መግለጫ የኢትዮጵያ የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት አዋጅ ከወጣበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ ጋዜጠኞችና በሰላማዊ መንገድ ተመዝግበው የፖለቲካ ምህዳሩን የተቀላቀሉ የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች አባላት በወያኔ መራሹ የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ከታሰሩ በኋላ በመንግስት አካላት የሚሰጥ የተለመደ አባባል ነው። የፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት አዋጁ ከወጣበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ ላለፉት አምስት ዓመታት ውስጥም ከጋዜጠኛ እስከ ፖለቲከኛ፣ ከሀይማኖት መሪዎች እስከ ጦማሪያን፣ ከታጣቂ ወታደሮች እስከ ተራው ሰላማዊ ሰው… በዚሁ አዋጅ አማካኝነት ‘ሽብርተኝነታቸው ተረጋግጦላቸዋል’ ወይም ‘ይረጋገጥባቸው ዘንድ ፍርዳቸውን እየጠበቁ ይገኛሉ።’ ለመሆኑ ይህ ከ14 ዓመት ህፃን እስከ 80 ዓመት አዛውንት በሽብርተኝነት ወንጀል ክስ የሚያስቀጣው፣ ይህ ከታዋቂ ምሁራን እስከ ገበሬዎች ድረስ የሚያስረው… የወያኔ ሕግ በተጨባጭ ስፋትና ጥልቀቱ ምን ያህል ይሆን? ለታሪካዊ ጥያቄዎች ያለው ምልከታስ? በሀገሪቱ ስላለው የዲሞክራሲ ሁኔታስ ምን ይነግረናል? ስለ ጨቅላው የኢትዮጵያ ፌደራሊዝምስ ከፀረ-ሽብርተኝነት ሕጉ ተግባራዊነት አንፃር ምን ይታየናል? ወ.ዘ.ተ. የሚሉትን ጥያቄዎች መሰረት በማድረግ በመሬት ላይ ያሉ የሕጉ እውነታዎችን በመመርመር ምልከታዎቹን በደንብ ማየትና እርምጃ ለመውሰድ በበቂ መዘጋጀት ያስፈልገናል።