Disquieting tales from Ethiopian jails

The country’s constitution entitles people under custody to a dignified treatment. Recent stories from its prisons reveal otherwise.

Kiya Tsegaye

Andualem Aragie

Following the infamous mass detention by the police in June 2011 of more than two dozen individuals, unsettling news of physical abuses against the detainees, particularly members of opposition political parties, are widely surfacing.

News of physical abuse emerged after the arrest on June 19, 2011 of Wubshet Taye, deputy editor-in-chief of the Amharic weekly Awramba Times, a newspaper known for its critical view of the Ethiopian government. However, details were sketchy and Wubshet preferred to remain silent after he first indicated that he had been beaten by his interrogators. In the following

Death penalty – shouldn’t Ethiopia consider abolishing it?

Kiya Tsegaye

Not so long ago, legally backed death penalties were embedded in constitutions of many countries around the world.

But as of late the number of countries employing the death penalty is declining. It is possible that worldwide pressure may gradually influence all countries to abandon the practice. For now the world has not formed a common consensus against its use. The most populous country in the world, China, executes more than a dozen people every year, and some states in the United States use it regularly. Luckily Europe has long freed itself of this cumbersome practice.