Jawar, Bekele, and Hamza have agreed to stand down from their hunger striker after 40 long days

It is good to hear that Jawar, Bekele, and Hamza have agreed to stand down from their hunger striker after 40 long days. They endured 40 days of hunger to demand (1) an end to their unjust and politically driven detention; (2) an end to the systematic disenfranchisement of the Oromo people, the single largest in the country and endured historic humiliation and disrespect in the hands of subsequent Ethiopian governments, and (3) to demand an end to the harassment and abuse of members and supporters of the Oromo political opposition – the OLF and the OFC.

The hunger strike did not achieve its goals. Their demands were not addressed. But they have made their points and re-activated Oromo opposition politics, particularly in the West. Most importantly, they have forced key regional actors and the international community to take note and to recognize that this government offers no coherent and workable vision of the future and that the forthcoming election is yet again another ritual exercise the outcome of which is already predetermined. Coupled with the crisis in the North and West of the country, and complete lack of consensus on the future direction of the country, many now see the elections scheduled for June are the wrong priorities for the country and going ahead with them would further exacerbate the already deep and ever-sharpening tension in the country.  There is more and I might write more at a later point.

As for the ruling elite and the prosperity party, I think they inadvertently revealed their true colors. I have argued on several occasions that the arrest, detention, and trial of Jawar, Bekele, and others following Haacaaluu’s assassination were purely political. That political decision can only be made by the PM. In other words, Abiy made the decision to remove these individuals from the political space, and the Attorney General was tasked with the responsibility to come up with a legal framework within which their arrest, detention, and trial could be rationalized, legitimized, and justified. And when the AG does that, he has to construct a politically expedient charge that is appealing to the target audience: the West and certain segments of the Ethiopian society. As William Kunstler once said, all authoritarian and totalitarian regimes know that it is better to do these things through some pretense of law and legality than otherwise (William Kunstler once said this). 

The behavior of the Attorney General and his Office during these 40 days is worth noting. The AG appealed a decision by the lower court allowing prisoners to receive critical life-saving medical care at least on three occasions. Among the reasons the AG used to challenge the rulings of the lower court is that allowing the prisoners (high-profile members of the political opposition) to receive medical care at an institution in which they feel safe and secure is a violation of the constitutional right to equality. In other words, the ruling by the courts to allow medical treatment of Jawar, Bekele, and Hamza in a safe and secure medical establishment would be contrary to the government’s constitutional obligations to ensure equality of treatment (mainly referring here to other prisoners).

This is the dumbest legal argument I have ever heard, and it was very sad to see Gedion, someone I have known for nearly two decades and always considered a decent human being, would stoop this low, and put his credibility on the line, to defend the indefensible.  It became quite clear that Gedion is now, unfortunately, just another cog in PP’s political machine, acting merely as a government lawyer, putting loyalty to the party before loyalty to the law, and with no regard to his duty to ensure respect for the law.

The other justification was security and public safety – that most resilient discursive instrument that can be invoked by authorities without the need to back it up with a shred of tangible evidence. That was the basis on which the Supreme Court granted the AG’s wishes. The cassation bench reversed that decision and as we have seen over the last few days, the security concern they conjured out of thin air did not materialize. It was a lie, from the beginning.

In treating these political prisoners with utmost callousness, and indifference to public opinion, the authorities revealed the moral failings of key actors, and public authority as a whole has lost its conscience and ability to exercise a sober and reasoned judgement. In mistreating their adversaries using the power of law, they exposed themselves to the judgement of the very public in whose name they claim the authority to prosecute and condemn.

I am delighted that they agreed to stand down. Continuing with the hunger strike beyond this point would have been disproportionately harmful to them. I am grateful for everyone who worked so hard, both from the front and from behind the scenes, in securing their agreement. I know several people who have been working very hard over the last two weeks to avert an imminent calamity and they all deserve our thanks.