Open letter to University of Melbourne's law school

 

- Don't host Minister of Injustice, Hashim Tewfik

 

By Golto Aila | May 1, 2008

 

Dear Professor Cheryl Sounders,

 

I am dismayed to learn that an esteemed Australian Law School is inviting Dr. Hashim Tewfik, the Ethiopian State Minister of in-Justice to address a seminar on Constitutions and Democracy-Building in Africa! You obviously know Dr. Tewfik more than many of us on personal basis having worked with him on his PhD thesis, but to let that acquaintance influence you to invite a man who heads the justice department of one of the most unjust and repressive regimes on the continent of Africa to come and speak on Constitution and Democracy-Building in Africa, is an insult, not only to Ethiopians who are struggling under the yoke of tyranny but to the entire continent of Africa! Here are a few facts about the governance of Ethiopia under the regime Dr. Tewfik represents, and  you may want to think about as you prepare for your seminar:

 

1.       On May 15, 2005 Ethiopia held its first truly democratic national elections to elects its leaders. The opposition party won by a landslide in most of the contests, a fact verified by the international observers. The government of Ethiopia stole the ballot and locked up the main opposition party leaders who won election!

2.       In June and November of 2005, 193 unarmed demonstrators, demanding the restoration of their vote and the release of their leaders were mowed down in broad daylight in Addis Ababa. Tens of thousands of those demonstrators and people suspected to be opposed to the government were arrested and placed in detentions in the most inhumane conditions possible. Countless died in those detentions from beatings, starvations and diseases!

3.       Dr. Tewfik’s administration held the opposition leaders in prison for about 20 months under trumped-up charges of plotting genocide, held countless court hearings and eventually let them free after unrelenting international pressure!

4.       The ministry led by Dr. Tewfik, denied the opposition party the license to practice in Ethiopia after the release of their leaders, in spite of them winning the general election by overwhelming majority!

5.       At the insistence of the international community, and for the sake of appearance, the Ministry of Justice set up a judicial commission of inquiry into the deaths of the 193 victims of the Ethiopian armed forces, mentioned above. Amazingly, the judiciary committee overwhelmingly found the government responsible for unlawful killing of those people. Dr. Tewfik’s government tried to overturn those findings and threatened the judges to change their finding. As you may know, many of those judges are refugees today, having run out of Ethiopia to avoid assassination!

6.       This month Ethiopia held nationwide local elections. The ruling party with, the help of its Ministry of Justice, disqualified most of their oppositions’ candidates from participating in the elections. The major opposition parties eventually boycotted the elections, the governing party, of course won by landslide – the kind of victories reminiscent of the days of the military dictatorship in Ethiopia.  Ethiopia is now functioning as the worst form of dictatorship where the outside observers are hoodwinked into believing a true democratic process is taking place there, while inside the country the worst oppression possible is taking place! Ordinary people in Ethiopia have nobody to turn to since the likes of Tekfik have also occupied the corridors of power around the world, and rendered ordinary Ethiopians voiceless, friendless, and abandoned but decent people around the world!

 

As decent human beings we must follow our conscience! If you did not know what has been on in Ethiopia now, at least, at least I have given you a glimpse. I think it would be a disgrace to let your institution be a platform for the most ruthless dictatorship in today’s Africa, please don’t let it happen!