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Free Birtukan Mideksa

Andinet LA builds a Birtukan's prison cell at a local event.

Click here to read the Amharic version in pdf

Audio files from the event participant

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Today, September 13, 2009, thousands participated in the 8th Annual Cultural Street Festival in the heart of Little Ethiopia. The festival, which includes cultural dance performances and international unity parade, become an annual event to celebrate the designation of the area on Fairfax Avenue, between Olympic and Pico, as Little Ethiopia by Los Angeles City Council. This annual event helps to introduce Ethiopian culture to the Los Angeles Community and to increase involvement of the Ethiopian community in the U.S. democratic process.

Kinijit/Andinet Los Angeles Support and Development Association for Democracy seize the opportunity to raise public awareness of the continuing abuse and life imprisonment of the prominent Ethiopian opposition (UDJ) and first national woman leader in Ethiopia, Judge Birtukan Mideksa. Ms. Mideksa is a freedom fighter, a courageous leader and has become the spirit of resistance against tyranny in Ethiopia.

Ms. Mideksa was held in solitary confinement and denied access to legal counsel and visits by the International Red Cross and other international human rights organizations for 6 months after her roadside abduction by the regime’s notorious armed thugs on December 29, 2008. The physical and mental torture to dehumanize Ms. Mideksa has been intensified.

Ø The 2008 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report described prison conditions as follows: “Prison and pretrial detention center conditions remained harsh and life threatening. Prisoners often had less than 22 square feet of sleeping space… prison conditions were unsanitary …Medical care was unreliable … police often physically abused detainees. There were some deaths in prison due to illness and poor health care. Prison officials were not forthcoming

with reports of such deaths. Authorities sometimes arbitrarily denied visitors’ access to detainees. In some cases, family visits to political prisoners were restricted to a few per year.”

Los Angeles Support and Development Association for Democracy (Kinijit LA) rented a booth at Little Ethiopia Festival and urged individuals to be confined in 6 ft by 4 ft shack for about 2 minutes to publicize her ordeal. It is impossible to demonstrate the full extent of Ms. Mideksa’s suffering from the inhumane treatment by Zenawi’s regime. The shack drew a lot of attention and opened up discussions especially with non-Ethiopians. “Free Birtukan” wristbands and brochures were distributed. While confined in the shack, an audio reminded the individual to imagine how much physical and mental torture a solitary confinement for 6 months would inflict. That is the price Ms. Mideksa has been paying to bring rule-of-law and justice in Ethiopia.

Members of Kinijit LA wore “Free Birtukan” T-shirt to publicize her ordeal by a brutal tyrant regime. “Free Birtukan Mideksa” petition drive was conducted all day and the public was urged to join the campaign for freedom of Birtukan by writing letters to their senators and US Congressional Representatives.

It was a successful campaign for freedom of our heroic leader.

የሎስ አንጀለስ ሰልፈኞች ለሕብረተሰቡ ጥሪ አቀረቡ፡

March 7, 2009

የሎስ አንጀለስ ሕዝብ ወ/ት ብርቱካን ሚደቅሳ እና አርቲስት ቴዲ አፍሮ እንዲሁም ሌሎች የህሊና እስረኞች ያለ አግባብ ከሕግ እና ደምብ ውጭ ሰብዓዊ መብታቸው ተገፎ ለእስር መዳረጋቸውን በመቃወም ድምፃቸውን ከፍ አድርገው አሰሙ።

የህ የድምፅ ማሰማት ዝግጅት የተደረገው በሎስ አንጀለስ ከተማ ሊትል ኢትዮጵያ በመባል ቢሚታወቀው የፌርፋክስ ጎዳና ላይ ዛሬ ቅዳሜ ማርች 7፣ 2009 ሲሆን በዝግጅቱም በርካታ ኢትዮጵያውያንና የኢትዮጵያ ወዳጆች ተካፋይ ሆነዋል።

ሕዝቡ የሰብዓዊ መብት መረገጥን በመቃወም፣ ለወ/ት ብርቱካን ሚደቅሳ እና ለ አርቲስት ቴዲ አፍሮ እንዲሁም ሌሎች የዚሁ ግፍ አገዛዝ የህሊና አስረኞች ሆነው የሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ያለምንም ቅደመ ሁኔታ መለቀቅ እንዳለባቸው በማሳሰብ ኢትዬጵያውያን ሁሉ በያሉበት ይህንን ፍትህ የመሻት ተልዕኮ እነዲወጡ ጥሪ አድርጓል። ጥሪው በቦታው ለተገኙ ተሳታፊዎች፣ ባካባቢው ለሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን፣ በመንገድ ላይ የሚተላለፉ የህብረተሰቡ አካሎችን ጨምሮ እንዲሳተፉ የሚጠይቅ ነው። ከተሰራጨው የጥሪ መልዕክት ከፊሉ፡ ህዝቡ በየ አካባቢያቸው የለውን የሕዝብ ተወካዮች፣ የስቴት ሴነተሮች፣ ስቴት ዲፓርትመንት፣ እና ዓለም አቀፍ ድርጅቶችን በመደወል እና በመፃፍ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው መንግሥት ከሕግ በላይ መሆኑን፣ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የሕዝብ ሰብዓዊ መብት እየተጣሰ መሆኑን፣ ወ/ት ብርቱካን ሚደቅሳ መብቷን ተገፋ ልትጎበኝ በማትችልበት ሁኔታ በግዞት እስር ላይ መሆኗን በማመልከት የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ለዚህ እና ለሌችም የሕዝብ መብት ጥሰቶች ተጠያቂ መሆኑን ማስገንዘብ አስፈላጊ መሆኑን የሚያሳስብ ነው።

በዚሁ ዝግጅት ላይ የሻማ ማብራት ዘክር በማድረግ እነኚሁን መብታቸው የተረገጠ ግለሰቦችን ሰልፈኞቹ በፀሎት አስበዋቸዋል። የሻማ ማብራት ስነስርዓቱ በበርካታ የህብረተሰቡ አካሎች ተሳታፊነት ድምቀት ባለው ሁኔታ በጸሎት ተጠናቋል።

በሎስ አንጀለስ የአንድነት የድጋፍ እና ልማት ድርጅት ለዲሞክራሲ

www.kinijitla.org

To raise public awareness of the political, economic, and social problems and prospects in Ethiopia;

To cooperate with likeminded groups and organizations to promote development of democracy, free market, national unity built on recognition of diversity, and equality of all citizens in Ethiopia;

To raise funds from individuals, organizations, and philanthropic organizations to promote the cause of democracy and a free market economy in Ethiopia;

To organize symposia, workshops, and conferences and promote social and cultural activities that would promote the common historical and cultural heritage of all people of Ethiopian descent;

To provide social and educational services to Ethiopians in the state of California to promote their absorption into mainstream America; to engage in any other activity permitted by law in furtherance of the objectives enumerated above.