Prominent activist and opposition figure Jawar Mohammed has said that he and other opposition party figures are being locked up by the government in an attempt to prevent them from running for the upcoming election.
“I am proud to be charged with terrorism for the second time in my life,” Jawar told the court in Addis Ababa on Monday. He had been charged with crimes against the constitution for his work with Oromia Media Network (OMN) in the past, but the charges were dropped when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018.
Jawar accused the regime of locking up opponents to swing the next election in its favor. He said the authorities were scared that they would lose in the Oromia region. “The same thing for Eskinder Nega; he was arrested because they feared that he would win the election in Addis Ababa. I don’t think he has committed any crime,” Jawar told the court. “Lidetu Ayalew was also arrested because his idea of a transitional government was gaining momentum,” Jawar argued.
In Monday’s hearing, the defendants requested the court to be allowed to hold moments of silence to mark the death of Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa and others who were killed in the aftermath of the killing.
Jawar was charged alongside 22 other individuals and one media house with terror, firearm offenses, and telecom fraud. The charge sheet against Jawar says that since October 2019, he has recruited, organized, and gave missions to youth groups in the Oromia region with the aim of overthrowing the government by force and unlawful means.
Another of the opposition political leader, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Bekele Gerba accused the court of being as Auschwitz for the Oromo people, referring to Nazi Germany’s largest concentration and extermination camp. . Bekele was accused of telling his supporters in Sebeta and Hageremariam on April 29 and 30, 2020 “everyone should be organized in preparation for riot and sacrifice must be made because the neftegna system is strengthening and there is no need to be governed by it.” Following the assassination of Hachalu Hundessa, Bekele ordered another defendant, Dejene Tafa, vice chairman of the OFC who did not appear for the hearing, to organize youth around Burayu town to return the body of Hachalu by force from Burayu to Addis, according to the prosecutors.
A number of other individuals such as Dejene Gutema, Oromia Media Network (OMN) head, Berhane Meskel Abebe, a former Ethiopian consulate in the United States, and Tsegaye Ararasa, a resident of Australia, had their charges read in absentia.
The defendants are scheduled to appear back in court on Thursday.
