Bekele Garba & Olbana Lelisa transferred to Zway; Yassin Nuru held incommunicado

Oromo opposition leaders Bekele Gerba and Olbana Lelisa, who were recently sentenced  to lengthy prison term, are now transferred from Kality to the malaria infested Ziway prison. Zway already hosts some 3000 Oromo political prisoners. It is to be recalled that the renown Oromo singer Usmayyo Mussa fell sick while at this prison and passed away few months after being released. Gulelepost has also been told  that Bekele Gerba’s wife was fired from her teaching job accused being a terrorists’ wife. Oromos in North America have planned to protest in Washington DC on January 25, 2013  to denounce the incarceration of these leaders.

In related news Yassin Nuru, a renown Islamic intellectual and one of the Muslim leaders languishing in jail is separated from the rest of the prisoners and taken to the isolation room where he is been kept for 23 hours without access  sunlight. Despite the fact that their case has been refereed to the court where trails are

ongoing , the government has been rotating the Muslim leaders into the isolation rooms where they are subjected to harsh interrogation methods. The government has been sending ‘elders’ who have been pleading with the Muslim leaders to sigh the ‘pardon’ request and get out of jail.  However, the response from leaders was that it was them who deserves apology from the government who has been abusing them and their community. Hence, the objective  of the renewed torture is mean to  induce defection by unilaterally breaking their spirit.

Gulelepost has also confirmed that Solomon Kebede ( Suleyman), the former managing editor of the ‘Yemuslimoch Guday’ newspaper has been arrested. According to family members  Solomon was taken away three days ago and believed to be kept at Maekelawi. Family members are allowed to deliver food but not see or communicate with him. The popular ‘Muslimoch Guday’ news paper was closed down last  July following the heavy crackdown against Muslims activists and institutions. Yousuf Getachew, the editor in chief of the paper is one of the 19 Muslim leaders facing the ‘terrorism charge, while Senior Editor Akemel Negash and Copy Editor Isaac Eshetu have been forced to flee the country.

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