To: UN Human Rights Commissioner
To: European Union Human Rights Commissioner
To: The Incoming US Secretary of States
To: The Incoming US Assistant Secretary of States for Africa
To: Human Rights Watch
To: Amnesty International
After the political assassination of Oromo artist Hachalu Hundesa on June 29 2020, the Ethiopian regime rounded up prominent Oromo political leaders: Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba, Colonel Gemmechu Ayana, Hamza Borena, Shamsuddin Taha, Michael Boren, Kennasa Ayana and a large number of Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) members across Oromia. These leaders were held in makeshift prisons including in solitary confinement in dark underground locations until some of them were recently moved to regime’s notorious prisons of Kaliti and others. Since their illegal imprisonment they have been paraded in front of the regime’s Kangaroo Courts under politically motivated trumped up charges. The Oromo mass has been horrified by the mistreatment of its leaders and the gross denial of their rights enshrined under the constitution of the country. Recently the Oromo public launched a solidarity movement by wearing yellow shirts under the banner of: #OromoYellowMovemnet and #WeAreAllPrisonersTheYellow- (https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1225170934567568&set=a.140129223071750)
Instead of listening to the public’s outcry, the regime responded by rounding up any Oromo individual who wears a yellow shirt and scaling up the abuse of imprisoned leaders by relocating one of the prominent Oromo political leaders Colonel Gemmechu Ayana to a dangerous prison location, where hard-core criminals, that are infested with violence are held.
Attached, please, click here and read the full content of our urgent press release and appeal
