The Meles regime released today 17,765 political prisoners who are suspected of being members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), according to members of the elders council Prof. Ephrem Isaac and Pastor Daniel.
It is to be remembered that Woyanne Propaganda chief Bereket Simon had repeated said there are no political prisoners in Ethiopia.
The 17,000 who have been released today are those who have been rounded up from the streets and their homes suspected of being members of OLF and Kinijit.
Tens of thousands of political prisoners who are members or suspected of being members of the the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front, the Ogaden National Liberation Front and other rebels groups remain in jail.
Most of the prisoners have been tortured and abused while incarcerated without trial for several months and years.
The astonishing number of the political prisoners is just one example of the kind of atrocities the Meles Zenawi and his Woyanne regime are perpetrating in Ethiopia.
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Report by Ethiopian News Agency
Federal, regional governments grant pardons to 17,765 prisoners
September 11, 2007
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA)- Federal and Regional Governments have granted pardons to 17,765 prisoners who submitted requests for
clemency, said the Ministry of Information.
The Ministry quoting the Justice Ministry said the requests for pardon by prisoners in the regions were given answers to after having been looked into
by the regional boards of pardon and approved by presidents of the respective regional governments. The requests made by prisoners at federal prisons
were approved by the head of state upon recommendation by the federal board of pardon.
Accordingly,
Oromia pardons 6,942 prisoners
South Ethiopia Peoples’ State 4,995
Amhara 3,108
Tigray 1,800
Benishangul Gumuz 458,
Harari 60
Gambella 19
and from the federal government 383 in the wake of the new millennium.
The pardon applied to individuals who have shown good behaviour, and in view of the contributions they could make to national economic building –
criteria against which each of the pardoned had been evaluated by committees.
The pardoned include individuals who were convicted and were serving prison terms ranging to as many as 20 years for crimes such as rape, murder,
armed robbery and other criminal offenses.