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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Siye Abrha's trial adjourned....again!

The Federal Supreme Court failed to give the final verdict in trial of the former Defense Minister Siye Abrha and his brother Assefa Abreha today as a judge was missing for the tenth time in trial. The court said it couldn't deliver the verdict as all judges weren't present.
In the trial which is deep in its fifth year, the brothers are accused of corruption. Many suspect, however, that it is a political trial. Siye Abrha opposed Prime Minister Meles's leniency towards Eritrea when the two countries waged a bloody border war. Although the war ended with Ethiopia winning it, Meles signed the Algiers agreement which didn't reflect the reality on the ground. Ethiopians across different political spectra opposed the agreement. Siye led the opposition within TPLF.
The court postponed the verdict date to April 4.
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5 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
11:41 AM
Unknown said...

I think it is NOT fair to consume the courts hours and the judges time. Most importantly the cars that bring this aleged corrupt criminal from their happy prison cell to court and back. Several people are entangled in the process, stop waisting people's time and valuable resources,I say the son of a bitch with his corrupt brother. It'll be fun like the movie "Casino," in which both Tommy and Frankie are saved for the last and both beaten to death and finally burried alive together in the same hole, I think Seye Abraha and his corrupt brother deserve the same fate like the out lawed Tommy and Frankie, who thought they were above the law. Killing anyone they want and stealing everyone's money and all that. I SAY FRY THEM BOTH IN THE SAME POT, DON'T EVEN NEED TO CHANGE THE OIL.

Ethiopians do NOT care if one criminal fried another criminal. To us, its one less criminal to worry about. WE DO NOT CARE WHICH ONE DIES FIRST, FOR US THEY ARE BOTH TARGET PRIZE. Fry the empty head Tegre now, we'll fry the other, Meles "blockhead" Zenawi later. We'll make sure they all meet in HELL. Imagine what kind of conversation they will have,

Meles: I am sorry I hurt you

Seye: I'd have done the same to you, if my plan had worked out

Meles: So I beat you to it, ha ha ha ha ha

Seye: lol what we both ended up the same place, let me introduce you to people I met when I came here first. Make sure to keep quiet, there are several people who would kill you for the second time if you piss them off. Lets say hi to Idi Amin Dada, Moputu Ce Ceko, there is the new comer his name is Agosto Pinochete, he is old and he does not speak english, he is spanish, just smile and say hi. Oh oh have you seen Hitler yet, he is still angry, he spitts when he talks stay away from him, his spit is acid! Don't tell him we had that jew CONman what was his name?

Meles: you mean Paul Wolfowitz?

Seye: Ya, ya that is the guy I am talking about, don't tell anyone he was helping us financially, Hitler is still mad at the jews. He thinks everyone is Jewish. There is Josef "the farmer" Stalin, seating by the fire. He has been barbacuing, you know what I am talking about? he is barbacuing human, like we used to do it to the Amhara and Oromoes, he he he he. It makes me laough, it just reminded me of the good'ol days, when we were kings in Ethiopia. By the way Stalin hates Hitler lol, the other day they had a big argument as to "who started the war between Germany and Russia," and the fight ended with a huge brawl.

Meles: who won?

Seye: who do you expect to win?these are just haggered souls some people were woken up from their deep sleep with the loud argument and fight, but most people sided with Stalin. Then, Hitler called them all anarchists! Look, Saddam is there talking to himself, lets say hi to him. He is still angry don't tell him about Somalia, he is still angry about the Americans coming and messing up his country.

Meles: what do you mean don't tell him, he was alive when we invaded Somalia, bu now he knows unless he is forgetful. He also knows that America was the one financing us, everyone knows we are poor.

Seye: Look man, Saddam is busy making phone calls

Mels: can start BEGGARY in here too?
Seye: are you crazy, beg for what? man you are one a hell of a character, haven't we had enough of that BEGGING business? Lets not look down here, lets keep our pride, non of the big people know us here so don't let our mask get peeled.

5:33 PM
Anonymous said...

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR250042007

URGENT ACTION

Ethiopia: Further information on Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ incommunicado detention
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/004/2007
06 March 2007

Further Information on UA 25/07 (AFR 25/002/2007, 02 February 2007) – Fear of
torture or ill-treatment/incommunicado detention

ETHIOPIA Endalkachew Melese (m), aged 23, student
Daniel Hailemariam (m)
Hirut Kifle (f)
Menbere Tsegaye (m)
Tadesse Zenebe (m) – corrected name, aged 34, tyre factory security
guard
And some 60 other supporters of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy

Released: Saba Mekonnen (f)
Tigist Tilahun (f)
Fantaye Beyene (m)

New names: Alemayehu Seifu (m)
Tilahun Ayele (m), teacher
Yonas Getachew (m)
Gedlu Ayele (m), army lieutenant
Wubitu Mosha (f), aged 36, detained with her four-year-old son

It is now known that over 60 officials or alleged supporters of the opposition
Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party, arrested in different parts of
the country, have been detained incommunicado since mid-December 2006 or early
2007. Several have been released but there have also been further arrests.
There have been further reports that some of the detainees have been tortured
in detention.

All the detainees have been taken to court in the capital, Addis Ababa and
remanded in custody while police conduct investigations, but none of them has
yet been formally charged with a specific offence. Most are still held at the
police Central Investigation Bureau (known as Maikelawi) in Addis Ababa but
several were transferred to Kera police station in the Kirkos suburb of Addis
Ababa. Five of those transferred were identified as Alemayehu Seifu, Tilahun
Ayele, Yonas Getachew, Tadesse Zenebe and Gedlu Ayele. A mother, Wubitu Mosha,
detained with her four year old son, is among the detainees. All the detainees
have been denied access to relatives and lawyers, and are at risk of torture or
ill-treatment.

New reports claim that several detainees have been beaten by police. According
to sources, the detainees were accused of links with a little-known armed
opposition group in northern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front
(EPPF). Alleged confessions by Tadesse Zenebe, Alemayehu Seifu, Tilahun Ayele,
Yonas Getachew and Gedlu Ayele, at least one of whom had facial injuries, were
broadcast on state television in late February. The authorities have claimed
that these detainees had links with an alleged violent conspiracy mounted by
the Eritrean government in the unresolved aftermath of the Ethiopia-Eritrea
border conflict of 1998-2000. In a media interview, the Ethiopia's Federal
Police Commissioner denied that the detainees whose confessions were broadcast
had been tortured, saying that torture is illegal in Ethiopia. He wrongly
accused Amnesty International of publishing a fake torture photograph
supposedly related to one of the detainees. It had been posted briefly on a
website based outside Ethiopia before it was identified as a photograph from
East Timor, but it had never been published or endorsed by Amnesty
International.

Amnesty International fears that some of the detainees may have been arrested
in account of their peaceful activities in support of the CUD, and others on
account of statements made as a result of torture or other unsubstantiated
evidence of violent opposition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Seventy-six CUD leaders, journalists and civil society activists are currently
on trial for capital charges including treason and armed conspiracy arising
from the 2005 elections, which led to demonstrations in June and November 2005
which turned violent. Soldiers and police killed 193 demonstrators and six
police officers were killed by mobs. On 23 March the trial judges are due to
rule on whether the accused have a case to answer, following the completion of
the prosecution case. Most of the accused refused to defend themselves as they
did not consider they would receive a fair trial. Amnesty International
considers them to be prisoners of conscience who have not used or advocated
violence (see UA 284/05, AFR 25/017/2005, 02 November 2005, and follow-ups).

AI Index: AFR 25/004/2007 6 March 2007

7:35 PM
Anonymous said...

Britons 'tried to pay off kidnappers'
By David Blair in Hamedela
Last Updated: 2:25am GMT 08/03/2007

Two Ethiopians abducted with five British Embassy staff by armed men yesterday told how the group had tried to buy their way out of trouble before being marched into the desert.

Ali Mohammed Ismail and Abdul Ali Ahmedk told The Daily Telegraph how they were woken by gunfire at their camp in the village of Hamedela last Thursday.

Minutes later, three raiders armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles burst inside their crude shack. Mr Ismail, 20, and Mr Ahmed, 28, then watched as the embassy party, consisting of four Britons and one French citizen, tried in vain to buy their safety with cash and goods.
The group and 13 Ethiopian captives were then marched into the rough volcanic terrain of the Danakil desert. The raiders, who numbered at least 20, also stole about 12 camels, carrying food and water.

"They put me with the tourists and we began walking northwards," said Mr Ismail. "They were okay. They were walking at the same pace as us. They were not falling behind. They were not crying and no one had harmed them." said Mr Ahmed. "They were speaking to each other, encouraging each other. They looked all right."

The group struck towards the border with neighbouring Eritrea, about 30 miles away. Mr Ahmed said the foreign captives appeared to cope well with the first hours of the march across the rock-strewn desert, criss-crossed by gullies.

But as dawn broke over the desert about three and half hours after the raid, the gunmen released Mr Ahmed, Mr Ismail and three other captives from Hamedela. "They told us 'we have no problems with you, you can go'," said Mr Ismail.

They left the group and walked back to the village. None has any idea why they were singled out for abduction. Because they were tax collectors, the gunmen may have feared they would raise the alarm or organise a pursuit if they were left in Hamedela.

Mr Ahmed and Mr Ismail, both minor tax officials in Hamedela, said the gunmen wore Eritrean military uniforms. But they were unable to describe how these differ from Ethiopian army fatigues. Many Ethiopians cannot tell the uniforms of the two armies apart.

But the captors spoke the language of the local Afar tribe. They were recognisably Afars - like the people of Hamedela.

They may have been fighters from a small rebel group styling itself the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Front and popularly known as the "Ugugumo". These insurgents are waging a sporadic campaign for an independent Afar state but have done little fighting for several years.

Ethiopia has frequently accused Eritrea of backing the Afar insurgents. If so, the gunmen may have struck from bases inside Eritrea. The Afar live on both sides of the bitterly disputed border and, despite the military confrontation between the two countries, they still move regularly across the frontier.

No-one in Hamedela fought the raiders or set out in pursuit. Almost every man in the village carries a Kalashnikov and the gunmen would have been heavily outnumbered if they had faced resistance.

There was no sign of Ethiopian military presence in Hamedela yesterday, nor of an investigation in progress.

Instead, discarded possessions still lie at the spot where the abduction took place. The embassy party's white Land Rover, bearing the logo of their tour company "Ethiopia Quadrants Plc", is riddled with shrapnel. The captors appear to have tossed a hand grenade inside the cabin in order to disable the vehicle.

Empty water bottles, a discarded T-shirt and a packet of almond nuts are scattered inside the Land Rover. Nearby, the camping chairs, mattresses and yellow waterbottles used by the party are piled inside the shack calling itself a "guesthouse".

Little has changed in this area for centuries. Camel caravans still cross the desert laden with square chunks of salt, almost everyone carries a gun and the aftermath of an armed raid leaves the people of Hamedela apparently unconcerned.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/08/wethiop08.xml

8:05 PM
Unknown said...

Seye and his brother are going to be hanged in Piassa right by Giorghis Square. All Ethiopians are invited to witness the death of one of the most NOTORIOUS killers and his corrupt and just as bad brother. Sermony will be held prior to sending them to HELL where they will await their boss Melese "Midget" Zenawi who is not going to be to far behind. His hangging will be broadcasted thru international news organization. CNN and BBC as well as others such as ABC, NBC, CBS, MNBC are competing for the right to be the main broadcaster of this especial event. Diaspora Ethiopians are cordinally being invited to attend the event, its better than the 2000 Millennium.

9:42 PM

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