Forcible return/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/incommunicado detention/ prisoner of conscience
Atanaw Wasie (m), aged 74, political activist
14 Ethiopian refugees
On 27 September, the Sudanese authorities forcibly returned 15 recognised refugees to Ethiopia. They were handed into the custody of Ethiopian security personal at the Ethiopia-Sudan border. Their current whereabouts in Ethiopia is unknown, and Amnesty International believes they are now at risk of enforced disappearance, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, torture and unfair trials.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on 11 October that the 15 had been part of a group of more than 30 Ethiopian refugees arrested in early July 2007 by Sudanese intelligence officers in Khartoum and Blue Nile state.
Among the 15 was Atanaw Wasie, who has chronic asthma for which he needs medical treatment. He was a leader of the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) political party, which opposed the Dergue government that was overthrown in 1991, but is no longer active. He was arrested on 7July 2007 in the eastern town of Gedaref and held incommunicado. His whereabouts in Ethiopia are unknown.
Others who were returned and detained are reported to be alleged members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which is fighting the Ethiopian security forces in the Oromia Region. Several thousand members of the Oromo ethnic group have been arbitrarily detained and tortured in Ethiopia in recent years.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Hundreds of Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals were arrested in Sudan in early July 2007. Many of those detained were asylum-seekers or recognized refugees. The recent detentions of Ethiopians came immediately after the Ethiopian foreign minister visited Sudan in June 2007. Many of the detainees have been living in Sudan as refugees since the late 1970s, and others are opponents of the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia, who have been arriving in Sudan since the 1990s to seek asylum.
Ethiopia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU – now the African Union) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, all of which oblige the authorities not to forcibly return any person to a country where they risk torture or other serious human rights violations.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
– expressing concern for the safety of 15 Ethiopian refugees including Atanaw Wasie who were forcibly returned to Ethiopia on 27 September, in violation of international refugee protection law, and detained on arrival at the Ethiopian border;
– urging the Ethiopian authorities to immediately disclose their whereabouts and legal status;
– if the 15 are still being detained, calling for the Ethiopian government to explain the grounds for their detention; ensure that they are not subjected to torture or ill-treatment and are given immediate access to lawyers and relatives, and all necessary medical treatment – particularly for Atanaw Wasie;
– If they are in detention, calling for the Ethiopian Government to bring them promptly before a court and ensure they are either released or receive a prompt and fair trial in accordance with recognized international fair trial standards.
APPEALS TO:
Meles Zenawi, Office of the Prime Minister, PO Box 1031, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 1552020
Minister of Justice, Mr Assefa Kesito, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 5517775/ +251 11 5520874
Email: [email protected]
COPIES TO:
The official Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
Ambassador Dr Kassa Gebreheywot, Chief Commissioner, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
PO Box 1165, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 618 0041
Email: [email protected]
and to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 11 December 2007.