Human rights organization Amnesty International has called for international pressure to end the government’s months-long “campaign of arbitrary mass arrests” in the Amhara region.
The organization stated in a statement on January 20, 2017, that the government has been carrying out arbitrary mass detentions for four months. The statement noted that thousands of residents are in detention.
“The international silence on the arbitrary mass detention of thousands of citizens in the Amhara region is beyond shameful. Ethiopia’s development partners, as well as African and international human rights defenders, should use their influence to publicly call for the release of all arbitrarily detained citizens,” said Tigray Chagutah, Amnesty’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
The director added, “The international community should not ignore Ethiopia’s humanitarian crisis at a time when the Ethiopian government is violating the rule of law.” Chagutah added in the same statement that it is unacceptable that thousands of citizens have been detained for months without charge or judicial recognition.
“The detention of thousands of individuals for months without charge or trial is a miscarriage of justice and a clear violation of human rights,” the director criticized.
They also pointed out that not only have thousands of people been arrested without legal basis, but that the authorities continue to carry out arbitrary arrests in the Amhara region.
The director called on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release all those “arbitrarily detained” or face charges for internationally recognized crimes, the statement said.Amnesty recalled that around mid-September this year, the Ethiopian army and Amhara security forces arbitrarily arrested thousands of people and placed them in four makeshift detention camps.
Amnesty International had previously stated that “thousands” of residents who were held in “arbitrary detention” for a month were held in temporary detention camps in the towns of Dangla, Kombolcha and Shewa Robit, as well as in the Chilga district.The targets reportedly included members of the judiciary, including judges and prosecutors, as well as academics.