Maekelawi
Maekelawi was a police station with an integrated prison in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa , where mainly political prisoners were detained. There are numerous reports of abuse and torture in the prison. The facility was closed in 2018, today the building houses a gallery .
use
Maekelawi was the central police station in Addis Ababa and was equipped with a prison complex with four separate blocks. In particular, under Meles Zenawi , who was Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2012, numerous political opponents were imprisoned and held in Maekelawi, among others. There were numerous human rights violations. The repressive crackdown on demonstrators and political opponents reached a climax after the parliamentary elections in Ethiopia in 2005 and the protests that followed. Numerous leaders of the opposition and protest movement against Zenawi were arrested and imprisoned in Maekelawi, among others. In December 2010, Ethiopian security forces distributed a report exposing and documenting the practice of torture in Ethiopia. The report contained an appeal to the Ethiopian diaspora to inform about the human rights violations and to fight them. In response, the Global Alliance Against Torture was founded in Ethiopia to fight torture in Ethiopia. A 2011 report by the US State Department on the protection of human rights in Ethiopia referred to the situation in Maekelawi and found the use of physical abuse. In 2013 a report by the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch denounced the conditions in Maekelawi and the numerous human rights violations.
After nationwide protests since 2015, then Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn declared that he wanted to release all political prisoners and convert the Maekelawi prison, which had become a symbol of the suppression of demonstrations and arbitrariness against political opponents, into a gallery. He justified this step by promoting national reconciliation . Maekelawi was finally closed on April 7, 2018, five days after Abiy Ahmed became the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Some former inmates of Maekelawi Prison have been transferred to a new facility, which Desalegn says will meet human rights and international standards. The former prison was opened to the public for the first time on September 6, 2019.
Human rights violations
Maekelawi Prison has been the site of numerous human rights violations. The conditions of detention differed greatly between the four prison blocks. In one block, prisoners were partially denied access to sanitary facilities and daylight , and prisoners were also placed in solitary confinement . Also, the infestation of fleas was a widespread problem in Maekelawi. In another block, colloquially called the Sheraton , based on the international hotel in Addis Ababa, the movement was freer and the conditions were slightly better. The prisoners in Maekelawi were systematically denied contact with lawyers , and non-governmental organizations and diplomats were also denied access to the prison. Many detainees have also been held in the prison without a final judgment. Various forms of physical violence were used against the prisoners in order to obtain confessions, as well as arbitrary use of force by the guards against prisoners.
Today the Ethiopian government is trying to come to terms with the human rights violations. Senior officials were convicted of torture and murder, and new laws were passed against the abuse of prisoners. A reconciliation commission was also set up in December 2018. Meanwhile, activists criticize that the Ethiopian government's actions are insufficient to heal the wounds of the past. They also protested against the continued detention of individual demonstrators.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ethiopian protest leaders guilty . June 11, 2007 ( bbc.co.uk [accessed February 2, 2020]).
- ↑ Maekelawi: The prison in Hell. Retrieved February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ US Department of State (Ed.): Country Reports on Human Rights Practices . tape 1 . Washington DC 2011, p. 220 .
- ↑ Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor | New York, NY 10118-3299 USA | t 1.212.290.4700: Ethiopia: Political Detainees Tortured. October 18, 2013, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Ethiopia 'tortures' inmates says HRW . In: BBC News . October 18, 2013 ( bbc.com [accessed February 2, 2020]).
- ↑ Ethiopia Says It Will Free All Of Its Political Prisoners. Accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ AfricaNews: Ethiopia closes Maekelawi prison, restores internet across the country. April 7, 2018, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor | New York, NY 10118-3299 USA | t 1.212.290.4700: Gates Open on Ethiopia's Infamous Maekelawi Jail. September 6, 2019, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Ethiopia transforms torture chamber into gallery. Retrieved February 2, 2020 .
- ^ Former inmate tours Ethiopian torture center after it opens to the public . In: Reuters . September 6, 2019 ( reuters.com [accessed February 2, 2020]).