- Title: Former inmates tours Ethiopian torture centre after it opens to the public
- Date: 6th September 2019
- Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) PEOPLE QUEUING OUTSIDE MAEYKELAWI PRISON BEFKADU HAILU, FORMER MAEYKELAWI PRISONER, GOING THROUGH SECURITY BEFKADU WALKING VIEW OF INTERIOR OF PRISON BEFKADU IN HIS FORMER CELL BEFKADU SITTING IN THE CORNER WHERE HE USED TO SIT BEFKADU REMINISCING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEFKADU HAILU, MAEYKELAWI FORMER PRISONER, SAYING: "This is Siberia as it is called by the prisoners because these openings that allow light to enter now were not there. It was blocked, and there was only a small bulb right there from outside, so the only light source of light in the rooms was from those bulbs and it is usually cold and dark." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE VISITING THE CELLS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEFKADU HAILU, FORMER MAEYKELAWI PRISONER, SAYING: "I always remember when the police men came to take me I hear the sound of the handcuffs. When they're coming, you know that they are going to take you so your heart starts to pump as you get scared and then you just give your hands to be handcuffed and be taken to the torture rooms. I don't call them interrogation rooms because all they do was torture and make you confess self-incriminating things." VARIOUS OF KEFIYALEW TEFERA ARRIVING PEOPLE GREETING KEFIYALEW MAEYKELAWI PRISON (SOUNDBITE) (Afaan Oromoo) KEFIYALEW TEFERA, FORMER PRISONER WHO LOST HIS LEGS FROM TORTURE IN MAEYKELAWI, SAYING: "This place is a place where human beings were tortured, lost their body parts and mental health. It is where many people lost their lives. I think thousands were tortured in this place. They took me from here and put me in another prison down there which is under the Addis Ababa Police Commission. So it is emotionally disturbing for me to come here." VARIOUS OF VISITORS READING PRISONERS' INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS WRITING ON THE WALL READING (Afaan Oromoo): "WE WILL REMOVE THE ROOTS OF SLAVERY" WRITING ON THE WALL READING (Afaan Oromoo): "OUR LAND IS IN OUR BONES" CHERINET IMANA STANDING BY HIS FORMER PRISON CELL CHERINET TAKING OF HIS SHOES CHERINET SHOWING THE TOENAILS THAT WERE REMOVED DURING TORTURE (SOUNDBITE) (Afaan Oromoo) CHERINET IMANA, FORMER MAEYKELAWI PRISONER, SAYING: "There were people who lost their eyes in these cells, those who lost their minds, and for example they removed my nails with pliers, I can show it to you right now. They take me out only during the night and I never see the daylight. They also never took me to court until the International Red Cross came to visit me four months later and I complained to them." PEOPLE VISITING THE PRISON POLICE MEN ON THEIR WATCH TOWER (SOUNDBITE) (AMHARIC) LEMA URGESSA, VISITOR, SAYING: "I have seen that this is something that must not be repeated. Never again! As much as possible we have to talk only around the table in a civilized manner, that should be the only way we solve our political differences. We have to learn from our past history that blood and iron won't take us anywhere." VIEW OF PRISON
- Embargoed: 20th September 2019 18:39
- Keywords: Maekelawi detention centre anti-terrorism law ethnic Oromo people Human Rights Watch Mengistu Haile Mariam
- Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- City: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001AVISJMF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Blogger Befekadu Hailu's eyes filled with tears as he stood on the spot where he had watched a guard attack a friend in Maekelawi detention centre, a name long synonymous with torture and fear.
But on Friday, Befekadu visited the former police station as a tourist, not an inmate, after the Ethiopian government opened the building to the public for three days as part of its push towards new democratic freedoms.
The notorious detention and interrogation centre in Addis Ababa where thousands of political prisoners languished was closed last year after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office pledging an end to rights abuses which he denounced as acts of "state terrorism".
Befekadu, 39, a blogger imprisoned there for 84 days without charge in 2014, walked in on Friday morning, descending stairs to the damp, dark interrogation rooms where some of the worst moments of his life occurred.
Prisoners nicknamed the block where he was detained "Siberia" for the frigid temperatures in the underground cells.
"This is Siberia as it is called by the prisoners because these openings that allow light to enter now were not there. It was blocked, and there was only a small bulb right there from outside, so the only light source of light in the rooms was from those bulbs and it is usually cold and dark," he said.
The facility was used by successive governments, including the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam, as a site to detain people under investigation for political crimes.
In a 2013 report, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented the various forms of torture used at Maekelawi by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that took power in 1991.
The methods included beating with objects such as gun butts and electric wires and handcuffing victims' wrists to the ceiling.
"I always remember when the police men came to take me I hear the sound of the handcuffs. When they're coming, you know that they are going to take you so your heart starts to pump as you get scared and then you just give your hands to be handcuffed and be taken to the torture rooms. I don't call them interrogation rooms because all they do was torture and make you confess self-incriminating things," Befekadu said.
"This place is a place where human beings were tortured, lost their body parts and mental health. It is where many people lost their lives. I think thousands were tortured in this place. They took me from here and put me in another prison down there which is under the Addis Ababa Police Commission. So it is emotionally disturbing for me to come here," added Kefiyalew Tefera, a former inmate who lost the use of his legs after being tortured in the infamous prison.
When Befekadu entered the small room where he was detained, at times with more than 20 other prisoners, he was angry to see the walls freshly covered with yellow paint - erasing the writing he and others had scrawled.
Prisoners' names and the year of their arrest. "Freedom". A sycamore tree that is significant in the culture of the ethnic Oromo people heavily involved in the three years of protests that pressured the ruling party to appoint Abiy as prime minister last year.
Human rights advocates are calling on the Ethiopian government to do more to deal with the countries "abusive past".
"There were people who lost their eyes in these cells, those who lost their minds, and for example they removed my nails with pliers, I can show it to you right now. They take me out only during the night and I never see the daylight. They also never took me to court until the International Red Cross came to visit me four months later and I complained to them," said Cherinet Imana, after removing his shoes to display the damage done to his toes.
Though Maekelawi is shut, activists say some people are currently being detained under the anti-terrorism law.
(Kumerra Gemechu, Angela Ukomadu, Okwi Okoh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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