The Horn of Africa Human Rights League released a report that government security forces had recently committed gross human rights abuses in Ambo, Ethiopia. Around 50 students from the nearby secondary schools and Ambo University were held in custody in the last two weeks.
Among those severely beaten, Berhanu Diriba, a Lecturer, at Rift Valley University, is receiving medical treatment at Ambo Hospital. The Ethiopian Human Rights League publicized the names and pictures of 20 students who were severely wounded during the conflict before their detention. Gabise Sime, Motouma Kumila, Bedassa Gurmu, Rajif Kejela and Fiyora Bekele are among those injured and being treated at Ambo Hospital.
According to many credible Human Rights organizations, including the US State Department, the Ethiopian regime is known to carry out extrajudicial killings, arrests, tortures and systematic stifling and repression of opposition party members and sympathizers. Reports also show that the whereabouts of most of the detainees is still unknown. The Human Rights League called the situation “disturbing”.
It is to be recalled that some 40 people were killed by the security forces in 2014 after students at Ambo town and other cities came out into the streets to protest the Addis Ababa Master Plan. In a related incident, detention and intimidation of dissidents and opposition party sympathizers has intensified in Addis Ababa and several other cities across the country.