their own culture and therefore no-one may be arrested for the expression of their cultural
identity.107
Nevertheless, hundreds of people have been arrested in recent years because of their
involvement in expressions of Oromo culture. The government has exhibited hostility to
displays of Oromo cultural heritage. Oromo artists, including writers and singers, have been
harassed, arrested and tortured. In a number of incidents, the government has shown signs of
equating Oromo cultural expression with anti-government sentiment and fearing cultural
expression as a potential catalyst for political opposition to the government. A former student
told Amnesty International:
“If you talk about your rights, culture and identity as an Oromo, you
must be a supporter of OLF.”108
More than 10 people interviewed by Amnesty International said they had been arrested for
some form of cultural expression, in addition to students interviewed by Amnesty
International who were harassed or arrested for their involvement with student cultural
societies, as documented above. The organization also received information from a number of
sources about large numbers of arrests at Oromo traditional festivals and several other cases
of singers and artists arrested since 2011.
traditional festival of Irreecha, celebrated in Debre Zeit (which the Oromo call Bishoftu).
Some were reportedly arrested in several locations including Guder, Ambo and Shashemene
on 29 September 2012 as they were on their way to the festival and further arrests were
reported to have taken place at the festival itself on 30 September 2012. Some of those
arrested were reportedly transferred to Maikelawi. Reported reasons for arrests included
wearing clothes in colours considered as symbols of Oromo resistance – red and green – or
alleged chanting of political slogans during the festival.
Several people reported to Amnesty International they had been arrested because of their
participation in or promotion of the Oromo traditional religion Waaqeffannaa or the traditional
governance system of Gadaa. Over 150 people were reportedly arrested on 23 August 2011,
after the ceremony in the Gadaa tradition when leadership is handed over to the next
generation. One of those arrested, a young man who had been a student at Adama University,
told Amnesty International he had been travelling around the region to document the
ceremony but was arrested on the accusation he had being trying to incite people to rebel
against the government. He was arrested and transferred to Maikelawi, along with six other
Adama University students who belonged to the same cultural society. In Maikelawi, he
encountered 20 other students from Adama University arrested over the same period of a few
days.109
In addition to those arrested for wearing green and red clothing at the 2012 celebration of
Irreechaa, other people have been arrested for wearing or selling Oromo traditional clothing:
“There was a public holiday and some students wore their traditional
clothes to express their culture. The authorities said that we were
expressing a political opinion. Eleven of us were arrested and detained
at the police station for five days, beaten and interrogated. They asked
us which political organization was behind us, who we were supporting.
They said I was opposing the government and was inciting the other
students against the government.”110
Amnesty International interviewed five Oromo artists – singers and writers – who were
subjected to harassment, arrest and torture. The organization also received information from
other sources about the cases of two other singers. Writing or singing about Oromo history,
including the perception of a history of oppression many Oromos hold, or expressing criticism
of the government’s treatment of Oromos, are met with hostility by the government as
expressions of dissent and perceived to have the intention of inciting others against the
government.
One popular Oromo singer told Amnesty International he was arrested twice, on both
occasions that he released an album. After the release of his first album, he was arbitrarily
detained for seven months, on the accusation the album was popular because it was inciting
people against the government. Just before he released a second album, he was arrested
again and taken to Maikelawi. He was detained without charge for 11 months, and was
interrogated and threatened about his songs being political. During his interrogation and
torture he said:
“The guys interrogating me said that I had to sing to praise the
government in the future. I couldn’t sing about Oromo martyrs any
more. They made me sign a paper to not sing about Oromo issues and
incite people against the government.”111
Another singer and chair of a cultural music club in Shashemene had a similar experience.
He was accused of inciting people through his music and was also arrested just before he
released an album:
“The government said: ‘we don’t like your club. None of you are
members of ruling party so we suspect you are with another party and
have the intention to do bad things and incite people. You must
become our member or we will continue to suspect you. They said if I
was an innocent person why didn’t I join the government?”112
After releasing a second album, the distribution of an arrest warrant along with a photo of
him taken from his album cover forced him to leave the country. He said the owner of the
studio where the album was produced was also arrested and his studio closed down.
Yet another singer told Amnesty International a similar story. She fled the country after being
tipped off that the government was searching for her after the release of an album, on the
accusation she was inciting people against the government through the content of her
songs.113
In 2012, an Oromo singer named Kadir Martu, previously arrested based on lyrics criticising
the government’s treatment of Oromos in his songs, was among a group of asylum seekers
arrested in Sudan for unlawful entry and subsequently deported back to Ethiopia.114 Amnesty
International received information that he was re-arrested on return and detained in
Maikelawi.
Oromo writers have also experienced harassment or arrest because of books they had written.
A young man who had published a book of poems which he said related to Oromo history,
culture and language was arrested for a week and interrogated about the political intentions
of his poems.115
Another man who self-published two books was temporarily detained after the publication of
both. In 2011, after selling copies of his second book at the Irreechaa festival in Debre Zeit,
he was arrested and arbitrarily detained for two months on the accusation he had been
attempting to incite people against the government. He told Amnesty International that, after
his second release, he was threatened with murder if he published anything else.116
GENERAL SUSPICION OF THE OROMO COMMUNITY
All targeting of individuals for harassment, arrest and detention based on their peacefully
held opinion, or based on a suspicion or assumption about the individual’s political opinion is
a violation of the rights to freedom of opinion protected under Ethiopian and international
law.117
However, in addition to targeting demonstrators, students, members of opposition political
parties and people celebrating Oromo culture based on their actual or imputed political
opinion, there is a general targeting of individuals based only on their suspected political
opinion and the government’s anticipation of high levels of dissent in Oromia. Amnesty
International interviewed over 60 people from all walks of life, including businesspeople,
medical professionals, civil society workers, teachers, university lecturers, farmers and even
members of the OPDO, who were targeted for arrest and detention – often without charge –
based on a suspicion they did not support the government or conversely, that they supported
the OLF:
“I don’t have any political ideology. But being Oromo itself makes you
fall under suspicion.”118
A range of behaviours or factors were reported to Amnesty International as interpreted as
indicating dissent or arousing suspicion of or hostility towards individuals. These included
doing work that involves regular contact or influence with local communities and movement
around or in and out of the region. Some targeting is geographical – based on areas where the
OLF has been active. Refusal to join the ruling political party is a major risk factor. However,
while many people expressed to Amnesty International a belief that joining the ruling political
party was a way to protect themselves from generalised suspicion and hostility, doing so is
not always sufficient. Members of the Oromo political party of the ruling coalition – the OPDO
– have also been arrested and detained based on the expression of dissenting opinions or
behaviour within the party, which was not tolerated and, further, was in some cases claimed
to indicate underlying support for the OLF.
In the cases of the significant majority of people interviewed by Amnesty International,
individuals targeted on suspicion of holding dissenting opinions were accused of supporting
the OLF. In some cases, this appeared to be a pretext to warn and control people who had
influence over others and were not members of the ruling political party. But the constant
repetition of the allegation suggests the government anticipates a level of sympathy for the
OLF amongst the Oromo population writ large.
A significant proportion of people arrested for alleged OLF support interviewed by Amnesty
International were not brought to court, charged or tried. Their political opinion or, more
specifically, their alleged support for the OLF, the level and nature of that support, thus
remained unproven. The suspicion or accusation of OLF support is frequently used to arrest
and detain people, but in a high proportion of those cases, it never forms the basis or part of
a criminal charge. Nevertheless, people are detained for months or even years on this basis
and, in some cases, are subjected to repeated arrests based on the same suspicion.
OROMOS IN POSITIONS OF INFLUENCE
The government shows signs of fearing people who might have influence or popularity, even
at a local level, who are not members of the ruling political party. People in positions of local
influence and people who come into contact with many people in their course of their work
fall under scrutiny and seem to be particularly targeted to join the ruling political party.
Amnesty International interviewed around 10 businesspeople and medical professionals
arrested and detained on the accusation of using their profession to assist the OLF.
Interviewees believed this was based either on their exposure to and sometimes popularity
with the community, which the government did not like if they were not a ruling political
party member, or on the fact that, in the course of their work, they may have encountered
people who were members or fighters of the OLF.
Under international law, everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of health,
without discrimination.119 The government is obligated to exercise due diligence to prevent
discrimination in access to health. Further, health professionals have an ethical duty of nondiscrimination
on any basis, including political affiliation. Therefore, the government should
not punish medical professionals for fulfilling their ethical or professional responsibilities to
deliver medical care.
A pharmacist from Shewa told Amnesty International that, because his business was
successful and he went into the rural areas to deliver treatments, he had ‘popularity with the
people.’ As a result, he said, the local civilian officials of the government asked him
repeatedly to join the ruling political party. He refused as he did not want to be involved in
politics. He told Amnesty International:
“So after I refused membership they started accusing me of supporting
the OLF, that I am treating OLF, providing them with medicine and
that I am going into the bush to treat the wounded OLF soldiers. I was
under a lot of surveillance, they followed every action. Finally, they
arrested me for two months, closed my clinic and refused to renew my
license. My three employees were also arrested.”120
A midwife told Amnesty International he was arrested and detained for two months in a
military camp because he had assisted in a home delivery of a woman whose husband was
linked to the OLF:
“The authorities used this to claim that I was an OLF supporter, even
though I told them I was acting according to medical ethics. They
detained me the same day.”121
Businesspeople have also fallen under government suspicion. Amnesty International
interviewed a number of former businesspeople who had been harassed and arrested based
on the accusation they were using their profits to assist the OLF or that their movement
around the country – when buying stock or trading goods – was to benefit the OLF:
“My problems began because I had property. The local police and the
soldiers suspected me for that, thinking that an Oromo shouldn’t have
such property, that I must have it for OLF. I was temporarily arrested
several times. They said I had better tell them the truth, before they
did something bad to me, tell them where I got the property and how it
belonged to the OLF.”122
“I was a businessman – trading goods to various village markets. I was
accused by the government of taking goods and medicines to the OLF.
One night the soldiers came to my house. They arrested me and
confiscated all my goods from the store.”123
Amnesty International interviewed or received information about several cases of teachers
and university lecturers who had experienced problems based on their failure to support the
ruling political party or their refusal to relay propaganda about the ruling political party to the
students. A man who had been a mathematics teacher told Amnesty International he had
been ordered by the Woreda administration to teach students about the achievements of
OPDO. He said he refused to bring politics into the classroom and so was arrested on the
accusation he was teaching the students about other political ideas. He was arbitrarily
detained, tortured, resulting in the loss of sight in one eye, and repeatedly questioned about
which political party he was working with.124
A young man who had coordinated a youth social group told Amnesty International he had
been arrested based on a general hostility to social gatherings:
“The authorities repeatedly warned me against such social gatheringsas they feared they were political. The government structure – down to
the village level – is very suspicious of anyone who is organising people.
So they need us to cooperate with them. Eventually, in 2013, I was
arrested.”125
The Kebele administrator and soldiers came to his house one evening, searched the house,
and took him first to the Kebele office and then to a military camp, where he was detained
without charge for three months. He was released on condition that he would cooperate with
the ruling political party to coordinate youth in the area in support of the government.
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