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When the government reinstated the life in prison
sentence put on Birtukan Midekssa, chairperson of
Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) and sent her
back to jail for statements she had made while
travelling abroad, I was frustrated. I was
personally fraught during those few days that led up
to her incarceration; many had tried hard to get her
to recant the statements that she had made so that
she would not be back to square one. But she, of
course, would not hear of it.
I
wrote: "Dashed are the hopes of a revived
opposition. Dashed are the hopes of an openly
competitive election. Dashed are the hopes of a
vibrant political culture and pluralism. Then, add
to that, the re-incarceration of members of the
business community who had been released and you
have a cauldron brewing with recipes for disaster.
Hope just does not give here in Ethiopia. And we,
being the diligent believers that we are, never seem
to give up on it."
Birtukan is a person that is led by her moral
convictions. I, of course, know and believe that
morality has no place in politics; and I was one of
perhaps the many people who tried to convince her of
that. But, being who she is, she listened to me in
all politeness and quietly hit “shift-delete” to
anything that I said. To be honest, I respect that.
It has been about 10 weeks since she was sent back
to Kaliti Prison; she has thus far been held in
solitary confinement, and has not been permitted any
visitors, besides her mother and her daughter. I am
not sure why they will not let her friends and
supporters in to see her. It is not as though they
are going to break her out of jail; this is not,
after all, an episode of the popular TV series,
Prison Break. I doubt Kaliti has any viable
blueprints to get the body tattoo covered with.
I
see the whole situation as kicking somebody when
they are down. It is enough that she has been put
back in jail for life, why then keep her away from
the prison population, or from her friends and
family?
This is beyond cruel, perhaps even bordering on the
vilely vindictive.
It is possible to point fingers and accuse this or
that leg of the government for putting her in such a
lonely position. It could be the prison
administration that decided to keep her in a single
room that was formerly an office to avoid the risks
that could come to her person were she to be a part
of the general population. She is, in essence, a
political prisoner; so putting her in D-Block with
rapists and thieves might not be ideal place.
The blame could be placed on the judiciary, for not
making sure that the prison administration is not
going beyond its mandate by putting her in a space
that was never intended for incarceration to begin
with. It is the body responsible for making sure the
prisons and police departments carry out the letter
of the law.
The scapegoat could also be the Federal Government,
which seems to have a grudge against her and has
made it a point to follow all her moves with keen
interest. All this shows to me is that she has
instilled a certain amount of fear in their hearts
because she has shown not only that she is able to
move people and win an election, but that she is
willing to stay and finish the fight that she
started.
Throwing a person of such integrity and moral
conviction in jail is not going to stop the threat,
but rather make it stronger. No matter who is
responsible for the solitary confinement of Birtukan,
the time has come for it to stop. She is a human
being that is fighting in a peaceful and legal
manner for the things that she believes in. She is
as passionate about her democratic cause as the TPLF
was about its Marxist-Leninist one.
This simply begs the question; have those that were
passionate about causes forgotten conviction because
they now sit on the thrones of our nation? What if
this was their child, friend, sister, wife or
mother, would they not complain about the situation?
Would they not want to make the trip to see them on
the three days out of the week that it is permitted?
Did they not too witness their loved ones being
killed and thrown in jail by what they considered to
be oppressive regimes?
I
guess things really are different when you wear the
shoe on the other foot.
I
suppose this is a plea of sorts, to let those that
miss her have the opportunity to see her. Ten weeks
in solitary will break even the strongest of people,
it breeds anger and resentment, and worst of all,
creates a bitter being that is either more convinced
of their correctness, or that is willing to go to
any lengths to destroy the destroyers that put them
there.
I
do not want to see this happen to one of the few
promising politicians that have had the bravery to
enter the Ethiopian political scene.
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