It looks like the government no longer cares about the feelings of the people it governs

The arrest and detention of Kadir Bullo, one of the lawyers defending Oromo political prisoners such as Jawar Mohammed & Bekele Gerba, represents a new low in Ethiopia’s long running politicisation of the legal system.

Free Them All!

While using the legal system to eliminate political foes of the regime is nothing new and the EPRDF government was known for that worldwide, arresting and detaining their lawyers is a new low, even by the standard of EPRDF and its continuation, the Prosperity Party.

The government is not satisfied by merely locking up its opponents and dragging them before its subordinate courts. It is not satisfied by muzzling the voices of millions who support these politicians at a time the government and ideologically aligned parties are preparing for elections. It is going further and arresting people who took up the very difficult and impossible task of defending people subjected to political show trials on the instruction of the ruling elites, not as a matter of routine law enforcement operation.

The prisoners themselves are currently on a hunger-strike. Their demands are very basic and the government can address those issues.

It looks like the government no longer cares about the feelings of the people it governs or its reputation abroad